Firemoth
by Solitaire and Xpyne
Summary: What do a dunpeal Tracker, a veep, Darkness, slayers, and vampires have in common? They’re the players in a futuristic world full of seduction, murder, and betrayal. YAOI YS, RB, YYY ch 6 up!
1. Chapter 1

Xpyne:  Hey!  In case you didn't already know, I have a slight obsession with vampy and mermy fix [vampire and mermaid fix].

Yuugi:  Only slight??

Xpyne:  -__-;;  well, I figured it's about time I wrote and posted some of my own.  Solitaire isn't so big on the Alternate Universe stuff, so this fic is just by me.  But of course Soli beta-ed for me and was my sounding board for crazy ideas and has helped steer this in what is hopefully an original and actually interesting direction.

Yuugi:  Good luck, Xpy-chan.

Xpyne:  ^__^'  This is a *YAOI* AU vampy Yu-gi-oh fic rated 'R' for excessive language, violence, some sexual content, and adult situations.  Oh, and if some of it a little confusing at first, that's just because I like to make up my idea of cool jargon...most of it gets explained as the story progresses.  Except the part that explains 'Firemoth' hasn't been written yet...um, well, I hope you like it anyway.  *^^*  So there's no confusion, Bakura is Egypty!Bakura, so in other words he's buffer, tan, has a little shorter hair and green eyes.  Everyone else is their usual hot selves.

My inspirations for this fic include: the Matrix, Snow Crash (novel by Neal Stephenson), Vampire Hunter D, actress Peta Wilson from LXG, and of course Solitaire.

Disclaimer:  The plot is totally mine....well, my usual partner in crime Solitaire helped some, too.  But I unfortunately don't own the rights to any of my aforementioned inspirations or Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yuugi:  Please R&R!!

Firemoth

Chapter 1 

By Xpyne

___________________________

"You actually found a Tracker?  In _this neighborhood??"_

"Yes."

"....How old?"

"Sixteen."

"_Sixteen!?_  How the fuck did a Tracker live to be fucking _sixteen_ years old in this fuckin' _infested_ city??"

Kaiba ignored his partner and concentrated on driving.  If the ass had done his homework, as Kaiba had to the extent bordering on obsessive, he would know the city hadn't started becoming infested until three years ago, coincidentally right around the time this kid had moved here.  Because that's what Trackers do.  They attract vampires.

"So how's she doing it?  Staying alive, that is.  Friends with a slayer?"

"He," Kaiba corrected.

"Oh.  Well, that might explain some--"

"**Shut up**, will you?  Read the goddamn report; I'm driving."  As if to punctuate his statement, Kaiba swerved violently around a utility, double armored, six inch Kevlar-titanium polymer plated blood truck.  His platinum haired partner sighed, disdainfully pulling out the thick black bound file.  It hadn't been so thick before Kaiba had added all his little notes...most of which Bakura had doubts as to their usefulness.  

[Was it really necessary to note that....] Bakura skimmed through the report laced with Kaiba's narrow scrawling handwriting [... "Mutou Yuugi" has violet eyes??  Really...]  Bakura studied the brief description of the boy Tracker.  [No picture?  Damn, why do we work with such idiots...don't even have a fucking picture of the little bitch we're after.  Shouldn't be too hard, though.  How many purple eyed, tri-color haired, short teens roam Etnemaa, or anywhere else for that matter?]  

All Trackers, according to records, since a living Tracker over five years old hasn't been found in 38 years, have certain traits in common:  one, they're physically slight; two, they radiate innocence like a bad 1950s sitcom; three, they're remarkably trusting, naïve, gullible, etc.  Hence the reason they drop like flies in today's modern world--that, and the fact they're better vampire magnets than an overturned blood truck.  Bakura finished leafing through the file in time to clutch the dashboard as Kaiba narrowly avoided would-be-fatal collision number 18 today.  He was glad Kaiba's control issues included always being the driver of their semi-automatic intelligence equipped battle armored terrain vehicle, that Bakura (to Kaiba's irritation) fondly referred to as "the Vamp Van"; Bakura hated the vigilante freeway traffic.  Besides, he trusted his anal brunette friend would get them where they were going safely or die trying.

"We almost there yet?"  The white haired slayer was eying the dying sun, its last blood red rays silhouetting the cluster of skyscrapers in the distance that marked Etnemaa City.

"Yes...but we'll never get there before the sun sets," Kaiba sighed.  They both knew it would be pointless to try and contact the Tracker at night; the kid would take them for vampires, run like hell, and probably attract a lot of the real deal before Kaiba and Bakura could catch him, assuming they _could catch him; Trackers can't make it to their teens without learning how to escape from the most evil creatures that roam the earth.  Traffic was becoming much lighter as they neared the borders of Etnemaa; not many people dared to come and go from an infested city._

"So what do we **really know about this guy?  And aren't Trackers usually girls?"**

"Not much, and no.  Female Trackers just seem more prevalent because they bitch a helluva lot more about being tracked than male ones.  Or at least they did.  Before the leeches killed them all."

"Ah, well then.  So who wised up to there being a Tracker in Etnemaa?  Jounouchi?"

"I thought you read the report."

"'K.  Like I want to waste my time going over a report you could recite to me verbatim."  Kaiba scowled.

"We're close..." By now they'd reached broken urban streets, so the lanky brunette slowed down to an appropriate 72 mph.  The last dregs of sunlight were receding from the ghetto, leaving cool darkness in its stead.  Kaiba pulled sharply down a narrow avenue, heading for a battered apartment building nearby.  Squealing into the complex's gravel parking lot, Kaiba abruptly brought their vehicle to a stop.  "Intelligence thinks he lives here."

"Oh, _Intelligence thinks so_," he mocked.  "Since when have those morons ever known what they were talking about?  If you're taking directions from Intelligence, I'm beginning to doubt our little perp is even in friggin' Etnemaa."  Kaiba glared at the pale haired teen.  There was a long silence.  Finally, the blue eyed boy gave in.

"Okay, fine.  Intelligence has no fucking clue.  _I_ think he lives here."

"I knew it.  So when do we make our move--dawn?"  Kaiba nodded, glad his partner accepted _his instincts without question.  Kaiba had aerial canvassed the city, charting vampire activity for the last two months, deciphering erratic feeding patterns until he had come up with a double elliptic movement pattern, including two main focal points: one, an exclusive red eye club named Drip Crell; two, this crappy apartment building.  The Tracker had to be here.  Now all they had to do was wait, and hope for a quiet night._

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Mutou Yuugi yawned, awakening to a crimson-tinted room.  He sat up, sighing, remaining still as he watched the dulled sun sink lower and lower, the bloodied color sliding out of his room through the western window.  Another night was on its way.  Yuugi snapped out of his inaction, rushing to get dressed in the brief twilight time.  He tried not to think of what might have happened had he awoken any later.

He pulled on durable black pants, throwing off the tee-shirt he slept in and yanked on a tight black buckled top.  He hurriedly strapped on his vital protectors: a thick collar, wrist cuffs, and thigh straps, all made out of a light weight, Kevlar based polymer fabric and stainless steel buckles.  Their purpose was to shield Yuugi's much sought after arteries, plus they looked pretty cool.  He didn't know why, but vampires had always been after him.  He used to move around a lot, trying to stay one step ahead of the murderous seducers who seemed to come out of the woodwork whenever he settled down somewhere.  That was, until he moved to Etnemaa.  

There was a vampire in Etnemaa, a powerful, ancient one, who recognized what he was, and how to exploit it.  Yugi shuddered, recalling his first meeting with the ancient one.  He had been thirteen at the time: his voice had just changed, his jii-chan had just been murdered, and his life had been going from bad to worse.  If he thought he was tracked before he hit puberty, it was _nothing_ compared to afterwards.  Once a monthly affair, fending off leeches became a nightly trial.  It had just become too much.  His first week in Etnemaa, no less than four vampires had cornered him, seeking his body and his blood.  What they found so freaking attractive about his skinny-little-boy frame was beyond Yuugi, but it was like every bloodsucker around not only could find him in a heartbeat, but wanted some kind of indecent "reward" for successfully locating him.  

The night he was trapped, the faceless demons closing in on him, touching him, wanting him, he had thought he would die, regardless of his father's blood in his veins.  But they stopped.  Reluctantly, to be sure, but they had.  Something more powerful than their bloodlust made them stop.  It had been the ancient one, his presence settling over them like a cool fog, commanding obedience.  They night stalkers dispersed, assuming as Yuugi had, that the ancient one coveted the adolescent for himself.  What the ancient one had offered, however, was far from anything Yuugi had expected.

_"Come work for me."_

_"Wha-_what_??" he'd stuttered fearfully.  The ancient one was silent for a long time, so long Yuugi began to think he might have forgotten he was still cowering against the alley wall._

_"...You have a rare gift.  You have what 'we' want."  The ancient one felt it, too.  He turned to meet Yuugi's wide, frightened eyes, the cool detachment he spoke with contrasted greatly by the flaming desire evident in his pale blue eyes.  "My people will devour you soon, unless you would like to enter my protection."  The powerful vampire actually smiled somewhat.  "Don't look at me so; it's not what you're thinking.  No vampire will be allowed to touch you--myself included--as long as you are in my service."  Yuugi thought about the proposal, extremely aware he had no one in the world to turn to now that his grandfather was gone...it was his fault ji-chan was dead.  He brought death or damnation to any human he associated with.  How would he eat?  Where would he live?  How would he ever work a normal job, assuming he could even find one at age 13 before he starved, when he had to stay up until dawn running from night stalkers?  He didn't have a lot of choices._

_"...What do I have to do?"_

A knock at the door startled Yuugi from his reminiscence. 

"Yuugi?" a muffled voice sounded from the other side of the heavy door.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Yuugi tried to sound tough, but fear leaked through anyway.  He may be under protection, but every few months some jerk would get the idea he could convince Yuugi to _let_ him or her draw from him.  They hadn't succeeded yet, but every time it happened, it scared Yuugi to death.

"...I'm from the club.  Pegasus sent me to escort you; rumor has it a Darkness is in town."  Yuugi was already slipping out the back window, ret gun clutched in hand.  He didn't know what a 'Darkness' was, but Pegasus never sent escorts; the man didn't trust them.  

Yuugi  slunk down the fire escape, climbing as quietly as possible.  With luck, the vampire wouldn't get wise until Yuugi'd reached the sidewalk, where he could at least maneuver some.  He paused, listening intently.  The goon was still pounding on his door a few stories up.  Yuugi dropped the last few feet to the alley below.

"Unh!" he landed with a grunt.  He backed into a wall immediately, gun raised and ready.  He scanned the dark alley with abnormally sharp eyes, looking for any possible attackers.  His heart was pounding fit to burst, and his breathing seemed far too loud in the silent alley.  Deciding it was as safe as it was going to get, Yuugi broke into a run, heading for the Drip Crell. 

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"What do you think?"  Bakura looked up from ret gun he'd been fiddling with to follow Kaiba's gaze.  A trio of shady looking characters in vinyl trenches were striding down the dirty street, their coat tails fluttering eerily, flashing every so often under the lamp posts' cracked yellow lights.  The small group entered a rust streaked side door of the building the pair was watching.

"Well, they're obviously vampires, so you must mean 'what do I think they're doing'?  But they're obviously doing what we thought they'd do: go after our little sweet tart.  So you must _really mean 'what do I think _we_ should do about it'?"  Bakura paused, then, and taking Kaiba's silence for confirmation, continued.  "I think we should wait and see what happens.  No need to alert a city full of vamps two slayers are in town..."  Kaiba was already unbuckled and loading his holster with various slayer weapons and tools.  _

"...you know, stick with the plan...assume Tracker boy can take care of himself one more night...why do you even ask me?"  Kaiba looked up, as if noticing Bakura for the first time, responding as if Bakura had never said a word.

"I think we should investigate.  I'm not losing the first teenage Tracker in 38 years the night we find him.  We need him for 'the plan' to succeed."  The blue-eyed boy was already getting out of the van.

"Oh, okay, let's go!" Bakura said with sarcastic enthusiasm.  He snatched up his weapon holster and his illegally altered ret gun, jumping out of his passenger side.  He slammed the door shut, activating the Apollock.  If anyone so much as touched their car, a cheerful four second flash of blinding sunlight would radiate from the hull, annoying humans and killing vampires in their tracks.  He jogged to catch up with his leggy partner, hastily clasping on his utility belt and adjusting his three foot long katana strapped to his back.

They reached the entrance the vampires had disappeared into.  Kaiba unsheathed is own lengthy sword, holding it extended at crotch level, muscular arms relaxed yet ready to strike.  The shorter teen shook his head ruefully, shoulder length white locks fluttering lightly before settling around his tan, handsome face, whipping out a silenced HK-5 with silver alloy bullets as his weapon of choice.

"You know, I'm starting to think you're only happy when you're about to kill something," he shot, smirking.  Kaiba turned his head slightly to Bakura, a rare ear-splitting grin playing on his sexy lips.  He quirked his dark, slender eyebrows.

"It took you till **now** to figure that out?"

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Bakura held up his hand, the signal for Kaiba to stop.  The green eyed teen peered around a drywalled corner, HK-5 raised in his other hand.  The three vampires, two male and a female, were congregating outside the apartment door at the end of the hallway.  They had no visible weapons, but of course their coats could be hiding numerous arsenal beneath them. There was a quiet murmuring going on, indecipherable due to the fact one male was hammering on the door.  Bakura motioned for the brunette to get ready to attack.  

Kaiba nodded, his silver sword glistening in the moonlight streaming through a broken window.  Just as Bakura was debating how to proceed, the vampire pounding on the door apparently got annoyed by the lack of response, as he kicked it down.  The three blood suckers moved quickly into the room and muttered curses and the sounds of overturning furniture could be heard from the hallway.

[He's not there.] Bakura thought.  [If the kid has any sense, knowing what he is, he'd have gotten the hell out of here as soon as these three got within 50 feet of him.  Either that, or he's hiding, but he'd have to be some kind of stupid to think that they wouldn't--]  His train of thought was abruptly derailed as Kaiba darted past him to the other side of the narrow hallway and pressed himself against the wall, peering around the corner and through the open doorway to the small apartment.  The brunette caught his gaze pointedly and jerked his head in the direction of the open room.  A slightly insane grin spread over Bakura's face and he nodded.  Time to show three nobodies the meaning of the word 'bloodlust.'

Akiko watched in disgust as Kimo and Lalo tore apart the small, dingy apartment.  Lalo, who'd broke down the door, knocked over a lamp.

"Fucking idiots!  Master Pegasus specifically said, '**_DON'T_ fuck up his house!'  I would think--the back window," she stopped ranting to point out the ajar window.  She strode over to it, yanking it open, hanging her head out of it.  "I see him!" She turned to her partners in time to see Lalo's head burst open.  "Shit!"  Akiko threw herself out the window, cursing.  **

Inside, Lalo was staggering to his feet, a quarter of his head missing and his jaw working in anger.  Before he could even regain his bearings, a flash of silver spilt him in two, the wielder of the raging sword swinging back with the momentum of his fatal blow, white cloak billowing out like a thing alive.  

Kimo leapt out from his cover to confront the slayer, firing his semi-automatic with vigor.  But the sword swinging assailant seemed to have melted into the shadows, disappearing as quickly as he'd swooped down on them.  A flutter of white caught his peripheral vision and Kimo whipped around, firing enthusiastically into whispering curtains, billowing as if a breeze had just swept them up in the still night.  Sweat rolled down his temple.  He was all alone with Lalo's body.  Loud, echoing laughter swelled out of the shadows, making his skin crawl.  

"Show yourself, you fucking slayer!" he spat, gun quavering minutely in his grasp as he rotated around the room, throwing glances over his shoulders nervously.

"What's the matter?" a deep voice whispered manically behind him.  Kimo was turned in a millisecond, firing off a few rounds.  "Don't you want to play?"  It came from the left now and Kimo craned his head, desperate to catch a glimpse of the owner of the chilling laugh.  A black heel made contact with his hand, relieving him of his weapon, and a fist swung up out of the dark.  Kimo threw himself to the side, dodging the blow and aiming a supernaturally strong fist of his own at the white haired assassin.  There was nothing slight about the insanity of his smile now.  The boy arched his lithe body back, avoiding Kimo with ease.  Before the pointy haired thug knew what was happening, a hard palm had made contact with his temple and he was on the ground, clutching his head.  A peal of sadistic laughter filled the room as Kimo clamored to his knees, fumbling for his gun.  The curtains were swinging again in the windless dark, and a strange beeping was getting faster and faster.  The large vampire looked down, confused.  A small, many faceted black cube was blinking a tiny red light.

"Oh, fu--"

Bakura snickered as blinding burst of daylight flared briefly from the window above him.  He moved down the fire escape so quickly it appeared as if he was falling, leaping gracefully into the alley below.  He took off running in the direction he'd seen Kaiba tear after the woman.  With any luck, this stunt would win the little Tracker's trust and make their recruiting job a lot easier.  Firemoth was going to be near impossible without a Tracker.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Kaiba chased after the vampiress in the red trench coat.  She called out to the small figure sprinting ahead of them as if she knew him.

"Yuugi!  Stop!  Pegasus sent--"  Kaiba shot at her with a silenced 9mm, hitting her shoulder and causing her to cry out.  She snarled, glancing back at him with piercing green eyes.  She swung her leg up in a drop kick, intending to take the head off the stupid mortal who dared interfere.  A strong hand around her ankle said otherwise.  Kaiba twisted it with a satisfying crack before throwing it from him.  She screamed, her dark red coat flaring up like wings.  She leapt at him, fangs bared, but a pistol whip to the face sent her flying into a brick wall.  Getting to her feet she hissed, "Listen, fucker, I don't have time for this--"  

Kaiba drew his four foot long sword.  Akiko's eyes widened, then she smirked.  "Good luck trying to use that on a Darkness."  Throwing up her wine colored coat tails, she disappeared into the shadows, cold laughter echoing in her leave.  

Kaiba growled, running down the street once more.  A darkened alley caught his attention.  Granted it was between to five story buildings, it was still far too black to be natural.  Pulling out a flare gun, he approached the dark fog that encompassed the area and shot into it.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Yuugi ran, and he ran, and he ran some more.  Seconds after he'd escaped his home, he'd heard a horrible commotion, including what sounded like gunshots.  Needless to say, he was very freaked out.  He could hear the pounding of heels in the distance, gaining on him.

"Yuugi!  Stop!  Pegasus sent--ah!"  

Yuugi dived behind a broken car on blocks near another alley for cover.  He could hear the woman growling something; was another vampire confronting her?  Yuugi wasn't about to waste any time finding out.  He scrambled to his feet and sprinted as fast as he could manage down a narrow, deserted alley.  Suddenly, the already dark alley went pitch black, the air thickening to a murky fog.  Yuugi skidded to a halt, whipping his spiked head around wildly in fear.  His breathing rasped, white smoke escaping his quivering lips into the icy night.  Chest heaving, he strained his wide violet eyes, trying to see through the deathly still darkness.  Only extremely powerful vampires can change the very atmosphere around them, and even the ancient one hadn't compelled the air to become so frozen.  He shivered, a mixture of fear and cold making him feel sick.  A light thud marked the arrival of whatever caused this darkness.  

Yuugi began backing away from the approaching footsteps, his heart pounding into his ribcage.  A low, smooth voice commanded, "Stop," as easily as if it was asking for the time.  Yuugi froze, eyes impossibly large.  A slender form slid out of the gloom, black cloak flowing around him like liquid shadows.  

"Hmmm..." the vampire lifted his gaze, piercing red eyes capturing Yuugi's.  Blonde bangs framing his face fluttered from his breath as he spoke.  "What may I call you, hikari-chan?"  His voice was seduction, his body seemed to glide rather than walk, and Yuugi was transfixed.  He couldn't find his voice; only his eyes appeared to be working, following the graceful form that was steadily coming closer and closer.  

The dark spirit moved into Yuugi's personal space, never breaking eye contact.  To the smaller boy's surprise, the vampire wasn't much larger than he, only about a head taller, if that.  The dark one had eyes that nearly glowed with intensity and hair similar to Yuugi's own, spiked blood, black, and blonde.  

The vamp sighed dreamily, closing his fiery eyes and ghosting his slender hands over Yuugi's shoulders.  The violet eyed one tensed, trembling.  The taller one leaned in, sliding his tongue over Yuugi's jaw towards his ear.  A hand reached up, unbuckling the heavy collar around his neck.  The action snapped Yuugi back to his senses and his hand shot up, capturing a slim wrist.  The vampire flicked open his crimson eyes, exhaling faintly against the teen's exposed flesh.  He lowered his hand, using his other to pull Yuugi's grasp off it.  He put the boy's hand on his chest.  Beneath the thin black leather under his flowing cape, Yuugi could feel a heartbeat pounding.  Without warning, lips attached themselves to his neck and arms snaked around him, drawing him tightly against his captor.

[This is it.  This is where I die.]  Oddly, he still couldn't find the power to react, to fight back, to throw off this bloodsucker as he had many in the past.  But the bite didn't come.  Only kisses assaulted his neck, amid the enthusiastic laving of a hot, wet tongue.  Hands slid gently over his body, exploring every curve.  A tickling breath hit his ear as the vampire murmured, "I love your neck."  Yuugi panted, something other than fear coiling in the pit of his stomach at the adoring tone.

"Ah-are you going to kill me?"  A soft laugh escaped the kiss swollen lips of the dark creature.  He leaned back so he could resume eye contact, his hands curling around Yuugi's hips. 

"Not tonight..." the dark one dipped down slowly, his lips brushing against Yuugi's so lightly he wasn't sure if it counted as a kiss or not.  A surprisingly warm hand tilted Yuugi's head upwards, gently pressing his petal soft mouth against the dark seducer's.  A hiss shot through the silence and Yuugi found himself being thrown down to the street as a burning light ripped overhead where they'd stood a mere moment ago.  With a snarl the darkness had lifted and Yuugi was alone, a UV flare sizzling beside him on the ground.  Someone was racing toward him, but violet eyed teen couldn't find the energy to get up, much less run any more.  He closed his eyes, willing himself to become invisible.

A large hand gripped his throat and turned his head roughly to one side, then the other.  

"You're unmarked."  Kaiba grimaced, wiping what he knew could only be vampire spit off his hand.  [Looks like I got here just in time.]  Large, amethyst eyes peeked open to see a devastatingly handsome man kneeling over him, vivid blue eyes peering at him through a chestnut fringe. 

"W-who're you?" a soft voice questioned, his hands quickly refastening his neck belt.  The boy tried to sit up.  Kaiba grabbed his shoulders and helped him.  Yuugi snatched up his ret gun and shoved it in the holster on his thigh.

"You alright?" the blue eyed one questioned coolly, looking the boy up and down.  It was hard to believe the kid was sixteen; he looked much younger.  He was also much better looking than Kaiba had pictured him.  When the report's rumored description had included short, tri-color haired, and skinny, the brunette hadn't thought beautiful would apply as well.  He supposed it figured, though.  Trackers supposedly made a whole race get hot and bothered, after all.  But then again, that was just because of a rare genetic anomaly in their blood...

"Are you a slayer?"  Kaiba's attention was drawn back to those wide, expressive eyes.  He nodded.  The UV flare beside them flickered and burnt out, leaving the pair in quiet darkness.  Yuugi shivered and stood, wrapping his arms around himself.  Kaiba rose beside him, his extreme, intimidating height becoming apparent.  Yuugi gulped.

The diminutive one heard footsteps faintly in the distance.  Someone else was coming.  A moment later it appeared the brunette heard them as well, since Yuugi found himself being pushed behind the white cloaked slayer with one arm, the other simultaneously pulling out a long katana, already gleaming with vampire blood.   The steps were almost to them now.  A platinum haired teen in a black vinyl kimono skidded into the alley, gun extended in each hand.  Yuugi started backing away, keeping his eyes on the dangerous looking teen.

Kaiba dropped his guard, but the boy running towards them shouted angrily, "Behind you, idiot!"  Kaiba whirled in time to see Akiko drop down from a rooftop, her arms wrapping around Yuugi and yanking his head to the side, placing a gun to his temple.  She hissed, fangs extending.  Blood was trickling down the corner of her mouth, and for once it was her own.  

"Get lost, Slayer.  My master won't be too happy if you make me kill his pet," she growled.  Backing up with a limp, she dragged Yuugi with her.

"I'm nobody's pet!" Yuugi yelled, struggling against the dark woman.  "Let go!"

Kaiba narrowed his eyes, sizing up the vampiress.  Bakura stopped beside his partner, sending him a death glare.  "Good job," he muttered.

She was bluffing, and Kaiba knew it.  He whipped out his gun and fired.  Yuugi shrieked, throwing his hands over his face.  Akiko collapsed behind him, bullet hole between her eyes and a look of mild shock on her face, gun still clasped in hand.  Horror on his cherubic features splattered with her blood, Yuugi scrambled away from the dead night stalker.  The tan teen raised a white eyebrow.

"Nice shot," he commented.  Yuugi turned and ran.  "Hey, wait!  Mutou?"  Yuugi streaked down the alley as fast as he could, grabbing a broken fire escape ladder near the end.  He scaled the wrought iron deathtrap so quickly he'd disappeared onto the roof before either slayer had reached the bottom.  Kaiba swore.  Bakura was already climbing up in pursuit.  The brunette took off down the alley to head the frightened teen off.  When he reached the other side of the crumbling building, however, there was no one in sight.  A silver 'KC' on his collar lit up.  He touched it.

"Yeah?"

"\No sign of him.  Fast little squirt.\"

"Nothing here either.  Meet me at that broken light post.  See it?"  There was a pause.

"\Yeah.  Over and out.\"

Three minutes later, Bakura approached the lanky brunette leaning against the darkened lamp post in a bored fashion.  He pushed himself up by his shoulder and started walking when the other arrived.  Bakura shoved silvery bangs out of his eyes.

"We fucked **that** one up.  ...The bitch was talking about her master before you popped her one.  Think he's a veep?"

"No."  Neither said anything for a while.

"Why the hell not?  It'd explain why he's still alive; he's some vampire's bitch," Bakura demanded impatiently.  Having a prick for a partner could get annoying sometimes.

"I checked his neck before you showed up.  He's untouched."

"Well, don't bore me with all the details already."  Kaiba rolled his eyes.  "So where are we going?"  

"Clubbing."

"Hmm, good thing I'm wearing my sexy pants then."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

_________________________

Xpyne:  So what did y'all think?  I'm terribly afraid that since this is an AU fic no one will read it and then no one will review it, and then I'll be a total loser who will have to cry herself to sleep!

Yuugi:  Calm down, really. 

Xpyne:  Ooh!  I almost forgot!!  Major *huggle* to Amychan for not only saying she liked this story but also mentioning Stewie, everyone's favorite murderous baby!  Hahaha, you're so cool!

Stewie:  ::wearing Lois's makeup and talking to himself in the mirror::  Oh, you're a bad girl and you know it!  You want it bad and just don't care _where_ you get it! Oh!

Xpyne:  ....Well, I have lots more written but I'm not updating unless I get some reviews from ppl saying they actually want me to continue.

Yuugi:  Fair enough.  Review, please, mina!  *^__^*


	2. Chapter 2

Xpyne:  Sorry for the mega slowness of updating!  I was trying to wait until I'd finished making a web page with illustrations by me of the characters in this story in their slayer/vampire/etc outfits.  Sailor Comet was telling me she was having a hard time picturing Bakura's outfit...So I've been drawing him!  

Yuugi:  But her web skills are lacking at best, and she hasn't actually finished any of her drawings yet, so I've convinced her to update already!  Hopefully she'll have a link ready by the _next chapter._

Xpyne:  Merci mille fois, to all y'all who reviewed!  You've made me soo happy!  ::cries::  Oh, and it appears I need to reassure everyone.  This _is Xpyne: _Of course_ this is going to eventually become Yuugi x Yami x Seto!!  They're the best threesome ever, yay!  And I must do my part to flood ff.net with y/yy/s.  _

WARNING:  This fic is yaoi, aka boy-boy lovin', rated R, has **really** bad language, adult themes and situations, a lot of blood and violence, and lots of sexy sexy hints.  No lemon yet.  C'mon, they're not even dating yet, hehe.  Please don't hate on the first amendment! 

Yuugi:  ^^;;  Xpyne and Solitaire don't own YGO or any of Xpyne's inspirations mentioned in chapter one.  Plus I think Xpy-chan steals a lot of jargon....

Xpyne: I do not!! ........steal _"a lot", just, um, okay yeah. -__-;; A lot.  But I make up a lot, too.  Like 'Nyctomortem' [night death] is mine, and I used some Latin words, which will be explained as the story progresses, so please be patient.  And please keep reviewing!_

Firemoth

Chapter 2 

By Xpyne

___________________________

"What do you mean, '_he got away'_!?!?!  Do you know what I'm going to **do** to you if he's hurt, or worse yet, drawn??  Shut up!!  Get out and start looking for him!! You had better--"  A muffled sort of thudding in the ceiling distracted the silver haired club owner.  "I'll call you back."  He hung up disgustedly, golden brown eye following the curious sound making its way above his head.  His hand sought his pistol, eye remaining trained on the air vent, racket increasing.  To his surprise, just the cute little teen he was looking for tumbled out of the duct in a cloud of dust.  Yuugi sat up coughing, attempting to shake the dirt out of his wild hair.

"Yuugi-boy!  You're alive!"  The tall man was utterly relieved.

"Yeah, no thanks to the jerks you sent to harass me," Yugi muttered, standing up and brushing himself off.  He looked up, piercing the silver haired man with a scathing glare that, due to dirt smudges on his nose and the round quality of his cheeks, ended up looking more like a kawaii pout.  "You have no idea how many weirdos are after me right now!  What am I supposed to do?"  

The man was at Yuugi's side, helping to brush him off.  His long, slender fingers curled around the shoulders he'd been dusting.  He leaned in close to the diminutive boy, a curtain of his long, silky hair hanging over his missing eye.  "You know, Yuugi-boy, you could always enter my _personal_ protection."  His voice was a husky, hurried whisper.  "No one would dare touch my--"

"That's okay," Yugi grumbled sarcastically, shrugging off the older creep's spider-like grasp.  Pegasus laughed, a full, throaty sound that just made Yuugi grimace.  Flipping silver locks behind his shoulder, he assumed a more business-like tone.

"So are you working tonight?"  The question caught Yuugi off guard, as he hadn't thought work would even be an option right now.

"Is-is it safe to?"

"_Of course_, Yuugi-boy.  I would never endanger you."  Something about the silky smooth answer made him nervous.

"The men you sent--?"

"Just a precaution."

"What's a 'Darkness'?" Yuugi demanded, hand absently reaching up to touch his neck.  He had a pretty good idea what a Darkness was, but he wanted Pegasus's definition rather than his own mind's unhelpful "sexy as hell."

The one eyed vampire faltered.  "....A rumor."  Yuugi opened his mouth to protest, but shut it just as quickly.  He didn't exactly want to advertise his...."encounter," especially not to Pegasus.  The silver haired vampire plucked an imaginary piece of lint off his immaculate magenta suit.  "You don't have to work, but I don't want you leaving the premises tonight."  Yuugi nodded, preoccupied with his thoughts.  "Good."  And with that, he swept out of his office, leaving Yuugi alone.

Yuugi sighed, plopping down onto a plush couch.  What was bothering him wasn't so much that he had been attacked; he was used to that by now.  No, what was bothering him was that tonight was the first time he'd actually _enjoyed_ a vampire's touch.  He could still feel the whisper soft kiss on his lips, the gentle embrace, the heat pooling in his groin.  Yuugi's eyes flew open, cheeks going pink.  [Okay, enough of _that_.] 

He worried his lower lip, feeling **dirty somehow.  How could his body want--**_that_**?!  He gingerly pressed down on the bulge in his pants.  His jii-chan was killed by vampires!  His mother was betrayed by them!  His father--his father **was** one.  His darkest secret: Yuugi was a dunpeal: half human, half vampire.  No one knew, not Pegasus, not even the ancient one.  It was the only secret he'd ever guarded with his life.  Well, the only one until half an hour ago.  Now Yuugi had a second secret: he was in love with Darkness.**

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Thunderous, pounding music somewhere between techo and death metal pulsated throughout the packed club, filtering out the guarded entrance.  Kaiba walked purposefully to the front of the long line outside, Bakura a stride behind him.  He came to a stop in front the bouncer, stepping close enough to force the guard to crane his neck up.  The man, while tall by normal standards, was at least a head shorter than Kaiba, and about half as well armed.  

"My friend and I have business here tonight," Kaiba stated coldly, peering down his nose at the other.  The guard crossed his arms.

"We don't want any trouble."  

Kaiba shifted, allowing his cloak to fall open, revealing a portion of his deadly arsenal.  "There won't be any trouble--unless you continue to stand there like a moron, wasting my time."  The bouncer's gaze flickered to his weapons belt and the sword strapped to his back before returning to disdainful cobalt eyes.  After a moment's deliberation, he stepped aside, murmuring into a small communication device.  Kaiba stalked past him, Bakura following.

The throbbing music reflected the raucous crowd, dancing, if it could be called that, in a wild, blatantly sexual manner.  Kaiba strode through the teeming dance floor, rudely shoving patrons out of his way as he made for the bar.  A particularly rough looking vamp choked on his drink as the blue eyed teen bumped past him.

"What the fuck??" he sputtered, corded arm reaching out to clutch Kaiba's cloak front.  A broad, pale hand immediately ensnared the thick wrist.

"Cool it," Bakura muttered to his partner.

"You're skinny ass is about to get on its knees and beg for the honor of buying me another drink, or I'm gonna snap you in two!" the vamp growled, veins bulging in his alcohol soaked neck.  Bakura slid between the two taller men, arms wrapping sensually around the bulky vampire and his slender form pressing coyly against the enraged leech.

"Hey, sexy, do you like it hot and fast?" he asked huskily, rubbing his vinyl clad body suggestively against the taller man.  The slit of his black kimono revealed a shapely black-clad leg as he hooked it around the vamp's waist.

"The fuck you talkin' about, man?!?" he asked uncertainly, confusion distracting his anger momentarily.  Bakura quirked his eyebrows, touching a concealed button on the inside of one wrist cuff.  A grid of golden lights flared to life over his entire bodysuit.

"Cause all I do is--_touch myself_ and this suit will let off a hot solar flash so fast your dick won't know what hit it 'till your foreskin melts," he purred.  

It took all of Kaiba's stoic powers to not make a face at that one.  The vampire dropped Kaiba's cloak front and shoved the crazy white haired boy off of him, backing away as fast as possible.

"Fuckin' psycho!  Christ in hell, the shit you tryin' ta pull!?  _Damn--!"  The pair of slayers left him to his frightened, crude musings, drowned out by the blaring music.  Bakura hit his switch again and the grid of lights flicked off, leaving him clothed in shiny, inky black once more.  _

Kaiba finally reached the far end of the bar, where some disturbance and yells caught his attention.  Several vamps, male and female, were harassing a bored looking girl lying on her stomach behind the safety of a silver plated metal screen.  It was then Kaiba and Bakura noticed the bar actually stayed level back to the wall, the area for the bartender fenced off with small holes for drinks to slide through.  [That's odd...]  The girl on her stomach was apparently serving drinks lack-lusterly from the raised partition.  Kaiba sat down at the end of the bar, throwing a small pouch full of heavy coins down on the counter in front of one of the drink holes, causing the female to jump.  She rolled up onto one elbow, eyeing the money.  

"What you want, honey?" she inquired sweetly, pointedly ignoring all other customers who'd been annoying her moments earlier.

"Pegasus."  Her drawn on brows arched. 

"That's a first; usually all these bums want to know is when Yuugi-kun is gonna be here.  Girl can hardly make a living," she said saucily, giving him a wink.  Before an appropriate response could form itself in Kaiba's stunned mind, a metallic device beeped on the girl's waist.  She sat up, pressing a button on it.

"Sorry boys, shift change.  Keep your money.  No one gets to Pegasus unless he wants them to, and the main attraction's coming out....You're gonna need that for tips!"  Before either teen could question her further, she was up and striding down the runway of a bar, exiting through a door of sorts on the wall.  After a brief moment, a familiar petite form walked out onto the caged bar top, greeted by an uproar of catcalls and jeers.  Bakura and Kaiba just stared.  The platinum haired boy nudged his partner.

"What the hell??"

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

_Must have, ...god forsaken, need, oh need, can't.....oh need....can't have--just once--NO!_

Yuugi panted, unable to control the urges churning through him.  He shuddered, wave after wave of bloodlust nauseating him.  Everything he'd been through this evening was crashing down on him and he didn't have the energy to control himself.  Yuugi was very good at suppressing his...his _bloodlust._  It made him ill to even think about the fact he had that part of him...the vampire in him that would never go away.  Whenever Yuugi was **really, truly distressed, when he lost control of more than his emotions, the lust crept upon him: piercing his mind--his gut--his ****groin--but never his heart.  He never _wanted_ the blood...he just...needed it.  Right now was--**

_Sweet, intoxicating, please, just--please--!  Need it--so....much...........**BLOOD**........._

Right now was one of those times.  Between the vampires and the slayers and...and the Darkness swallowing his heart, Yuugi couldn't keep his filthy urges at bay.  He wiped at his cheek, searching for any droplets he might have missed when he cleaned off Akiko's blood from his face.  A few burgundy smudges came off on his small hand from under his jaw.  His tongue darted out to steal a taste of the stale blood.  He made a face.  It was old, and lacked any sort of flavor.  It only made him want the real thing that much more.  

Tears streamed from his dark violet eyes as he unstrapped one wrist cuff.  He stared at his wrist for a long time, occasionally hiccupping from the tears he was trying to subdue.  The skin was pale, like the rest of him--dunpeals can survive in the sunlight, of course, but the vampire in them never feels too well after long exposure--but slightly sweaty from being under the cuff.  The fine, hardly noticeable hairs on his arm rose, flesh goosebumping in the chill air of Pegasus's office.  A delicate, racing heartbeat strummed through the hidden veins beneath his skin, the human blood in him tingled, waiting to be tasted.  He couldn't be turned; his dual nature kept him at a permanent balance--neither human nor vampire...just a sad, lonely boy who would never belong in either world.  He could practically **see** the veins throbbing in his arm, their spidery pattern burned blood red into his mind by the supernatural sense he liked to pretend he didn't have, begging him to taste them, suck them, drink his fill of his own sweet, human side.  His breath came in gasping pants, he had to control himself--or else--or else it would get easier and easier to justify his urges until one day, he drew off a human, and then it would all be over.

His little fangs slipped out unbidden, about as controllable as his loins right now.  His arm rose shakily, against his will....he could smell how good it would be....he could see the scar on his wrist from the only time he'd ever actually gone through with it....but he'd used a knife then.  The blood had poured forth, for him to lap up hungrily.  It had been after the night he met the ancient one, the only time he felt he deserved to have what every vampire seemed to want from him, the only night he'd ever been so desperate.

Abruptly, Yuugi ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.  The Darkness's eyes burned fiery in his mind, smooth voice sliding over him like a lover's caress.  Yuugi sunk his fangs into his own wrist, a muffled sob escaping his mouth.  The blood rushed into him, his senses lighting on fire.  [_Oh god...!_]  

He'd never experienced his own venom before, his own poisonous fangs.  The blood that wasn't flowing heatedly out of his wrist was flowing heatedly to another desire Yuugi often pretended he didn't have.  He groaned, breath hitching; his erection was near painful in his tight black pants.  With his free hand, he unfastened them, freeing his arousal and gripping it tightly.  He didn't stroke himself, though, or even attempt to alleviate the gut clenching passion rising in him; he couldn't move.  He was paralyzed by the numbing agent in his own vampire venom.  Lust darkened eyes rolled back into his head; he couldn't stop the flow of blood, even if he wanted to, his body frozen in a torrent of self-gratification--his human half was paralyzed, seduced, and unable to produce a decent blood clot, his vampire half was aroused, hungry, and unable to stop sucking greedily.  There was something strange about the metallic, sugary taste in his mouth--like part of him could orgasm on the flavor alone and part of him was going to vomit if the disgusting coppery liquid didn't get off his tongue.  Finally, with a desperate moan, Yuugi jerked his head away, eyes squeezing shut and fangs receding.  

He panted and stumbled to his feet, unaware of when he'd ended up on the floor, and dragged himself to the sink, where he mournfully washed away the staunching flow of precious blood, applying pressure delicately to his shallow puncture wounds.  He bit his lower lip hard, fighting back tears.  He could control it now; he was in control now; Yuugi was controlled now.  He let out a shaky sigh.  He couldn't go home, and he did not wish to be by himself right now...he wasn't exactly sure he could trust himself now that he knew what it was like to be under a vampire's spell.  

He drew in a sharp breath, stroking himself with disgust.  Just to get rid of it.  He came quickly, dropping to his knees, splashing water and blood all over the tiled floor in the process.  Yuugi knelt for a long while until he managed to get up, turn off the faucet, clean up the bathroom and himself.  When he finally emerged, reclasping his protector onto his left wrist, the only evidence of his previous activities were the slightly puffy look his large amethyst eyes had to them from crying and the light sheen of sweat on his exposed flesh.  

[I...I don't want to be alone...I guess I'll work tonight.] he decided.  Fingers still shaking, he put in the call from Pegasus's office, informing the girl covering his shift he'd be out shortly and she could go home.  He ran a hand through his unruly spikes and nervously made sure all his vital protectors were secure as he exited the silver haired man's office and headed for the door that led to the partitioned bar.  The teenaged girl covering for him was slipping out the heavy doorway as he approached and held it open for him. 

"They're all yours," she announced sarcastically, grinning.  Yuugi mumbled his thanks, clamored up the steep stairway and went through the back entrance to his specially built platform behind the bar.  The customers came half the time to see Yuugi, so he was supposed to serve drinks from where they could see--and smell--him: a runway of sorts behind a silver-plated titanium cage.  He hated it--it was so degrading--but as he knew, he was out of options.  Sliding out into the club, the girl closed the door behind him, sealing his self-imposed fate.  Yuugi sighed.  Time to work.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Kaiba's jaw uncharacteristically went slack, giving his serious face a boyish look of confusion.  He quickly recovered and smacked Bakura curtly on his arm for persisting in his annoying rib jabbing, as if Kaiba hadn't noticed the drink serving Tracker yet.  Like that was possible.  

The crowd around the bar was instantly swarming, and the small, still slightly frightened looking teen was standing behind the metal grate appearing overwhelmed.  Closing big, violet eyes, he let out a poof of air and opened them again, leaning down to take an order from a gang of women covered in fishnets, leather, and chains.  When he turned around, pulling bottles off shelves and mixing drinks on a mirrored counter on the wall, he froze.  

In the 20-foot long mirror behind him, reflecting the neopunk/Salvador Dali-goth decorated club were three figures: himself, and two obviously human slayers sitting at the end of the bar.  He whirled around, large eyes scanning the uncontrollable crowd until he spotted them, face going pale.  Shaking so hard it was a wonder he didn't spill them, Yuugi bent over and delivered the drinks he'd just made, receiving a torrent of pleased laughter and leers for unavoidably putting his tightly clad butt on display.  One of the women he'd served was pressing herself against the barrier, tongue poking lewdly through the metal links from full, black painted lips, trying to get his attention again, while her friends jeered, enjoying themselves.  Yuugi ignored the many raised arms calling out orders and hurried to the other side of the bar, expression near panicked. 

"Who _are_ you??  How'd you get in here?--I--I'm not--" he broke off, worrying his lower lip.  "Leave.  Please--just get out of here!"  Bakura's face split into a devious grin.

"What's the matter, kid?  Don't you serve your own kind?" he propped his elbows up on the bar and narrowed his eyes.  "I'll take a vodka--"  Yuugi backed up a step, looking mortified.  "--from the _bottom shelf, mind you."  He added, smirking._

"I'm not your kind," he stated in monotone.  Assuming he'd meant he was no slayer, Bakura continued smoothly.

"And while you're at it, I--"

"Shut up, 'Kura."  Kaiba stood, hand going for his laser sharpened katana; it could cut through just about anything.  "Cover me."

Bakura whipped out a pair of automatic pistols and stood with his back against Kaiba's, arms extended and a hard glint in his dark green eyes.  Some vampires screamed, others ran for it, and a few charged at Bakura, as Kaiba drew his sword.  Yuugi cried out, throwing himself against the side of the cage, as Kaiba swung his lengthy sword straight for where he'd previously stood.  Bakura was currently blanketing the semi-circle around them with a hail of silver bullets, driving back those foolish enough to try and interfere.  

Near hyper-ventilating, Yuugi cowered against the silver laced cage, arms thrown over his head, as Kaiba jerked his sword out of the twisted metal and drew back for a second hack.  Yuugi squeezed his eyes shut, trying to drown out the sounds of club patrons screaming in eerie chorus to the pounding music and machine guns riddling the air.  He was cornered, and the white cloaked slayer was slicing through his protective barrier like it was cardboard.  He cried out in surprise when a large hand grabbed his ankle and gave a hard yank, sliding him across the broken shards of mirror glass and metal.  The slayer's other hand was re-sheathing his deadly blade until it reached down rapidly, snatching Yuugi's upper arm.  Grip on arm and ankle, Kaiba heaved the smaller boy out of the slashed metal and over his shoulder, grasp shifting to hold his legs securely.  Security vampires were swooping in the now near-evacuated club, the shriek of accompanying bats hardly audible over the blaring music and wailing guns.  Yuugi bucked upward, struggling.

"Let's _go!_"  Bakura demanded, shouting over his shoulder.  "I can't hold them back all night!!"  As if on cue, a black swarm of cloak streaked into him, knocking one HK-5 from his hand, where it spun dangerously across the room, still firing.  A white clawed hand dug into his scalp, jerking his head back and exposing his tan neck.  

"Fuck--you--!" Bakura spat, his ebony kimono erupting in a cross-grid of light.  Yuugi froze, reared up in Kaiba's arms.  A blinding flash filled the club, punctuated by the audible sizzle of melting flesh and moans.  Yuugi went limp in Kaiba's arms, unconscious.  Kaiba threw Yuugi back over his shoulder and reached down, grabbing his glowing partner's arm and helping him to his feet.  They ran, bursting out into the cold night, several night stalkers on their tails.  

They sprinted down the street and dodged down an alley, the howling of several vampires taking flight after them. 

"So--any--uh--bright ideas?" Bakura panted, a few steps ahead of Kaiba.  "We're--too far--from the--Vamp Van..."  They were swiftly racing down one dark street after another, but the outraged inhuman cries were getting closer.  

"We'll make it."  A vampiress tore out of the shadows, wild, blackened hair flowing like snakes around her pale, angular face.  She hissed, swinging a sword at Bakura's head.  He ducked, throwing his leg out in a roundhouse, but she leapt up again, her cape dissolving partially into a swarm of vampire bats.  The bats attacked the white haired assassin, and he threw up his arms to shield his face.  Kaiba whipped out his four foot long sword, growling.  He whirled around, more vampires, and more bats, were surrounding them.  Bakura was shooting bat after bat, but seemed to be having little effect on the whole.  He leapt to his feet, pressing his back to Kaiba's, brandishing his own gleaming katana.  The vampires, at least a dozen of them, pounced.  

The air was filled with their supernatural screams, higher and more terrible than any noise a human could make.  A vampire curled his long, black nails in the small unconscious teen's hair as he swooped over head, insubstantial, shadowy body whisked along by vicious bats.  Yuugi's slender body jerked, caught between the two enemies grasping him.  Bakura sliced off the vampire's arm, letting it fall limply to the ground.  Yuugi moaned, starting to wake.  Kaiba, meanwhile, was trying to fight off a multitude of flying mammals.  They were closing in, pulling at his cloak and his captive.  It was useless to keep attacking the bats; he had to strike down their masters.  Kaiba abruptly dropped Yuugi on the street, stepped forward so his legs were planted protectively on either side of the boy, and swung his sword around with a fierce cry, slicing four vampires in half.  Yuugi's eyes flew open to be greeted with the lifeless stare of a decapitated head.

"Ah!" he rolled away from it, only to bump into a pair of shapely, severed legs.  Horrified, he rolled onto his hands and knees and tried to scramble away from the murderous battle.

"Bakura, use a--!" Kaiba began.

"Already did.  Three seconds!"  Kaiba sheathed his katana and dove forward, his long arms wrapping around Yuugi's escaping waist as he rolled.  He was on his feet and running, Yuugi in his arms, before the vampires could react.  A small, many faceted black cube was beeping.  

Yuugi threw his arms around Kaiba's neck and buried his face in his cloak as a burst of UV light illuminated the street.  Bakura was running at his partner's side again in a second.  As the pair of slayers raced towards their vehicle once more, Yuugi's sobs were the only sound beside their labored breathing.  Four vampires were still left, chasing furiously.

 They were closer now, only about two blocks away.  Yuugi clung to Kaiba as he cried, his sobs catching as he was jarred by the much larger teen's running.  

"Hey, come on; I'm not going to hurt you," Kaiba managed to sound calm and in control despite his heavy breathing and precarious situation.  He tightened his grip on the slender boy in his arms, wishing the kid would stop crying like that.  It was staring to make him feel guilty.  The tri-color haired boy unclenched his watery eyes, trying to think.  If they wanted to kill him, they could have already.  Maybe they wanted ransom or something... Regardless, he was out of the club...out of his practical enslavement... Suddenly his sobs stopped with a terrified sort of gasp.  Kaiba felt him let go of his neck and reach for something.

[Shit, what's he doing--?]  A vampire's enraged scream pierced the air as Yuugi shot off his ret gun over Kaiba's shoulder.  [Oh.]  

A ret gun blasts a low level of concentrated sunlight, strong enough to burn the more sensitive skin of a vampire, but not enough to kill.  It is called a ret gun because ideally, you shoot a ret gun at a vampire's face, where it will burn his retinas through his thin eyelids and blind him for about 2 hours before he grows new ones.  

A second vampire caught the one that fell back clutching his eyes and pushed him into the relative safety of a darkened alley before tearing after the slayers and Tracker.  He snarled, making to shoot Kaiba in the back, but Bakura was faster.  Whipping out his illegally altered ret gun, he let off a shot that's recoil made him stumble forward a few steps as he ran.  Instead of a square foot patch of low level sunlight, his gun emitted a fair sunspot, blasting the head off the tracking vamp.  Of the two vampires left in pursuit, one male, one female, the male took flight in a cloud of bats overhead and the female melted into the shadows, laughing murderously.

Her pale, glowing eyes opened again in the heavy shadows behind a dilapidated building, her body sliding out of the darkness with a whispered flutter of her black cloak.  She flung her long red hair over a shoulder and touched a small, upside down silver cross on her high collar.

"Pegasus..." she purred.

"\Hello??  What's going on?!  Have you got Yuugi?  Where are you?\" came the angry, panicked response.

"He's not coming back..." she murmured.  "Pity, really."

"\What the hell are you talking about!?  GET HIM BACK.  He's probably crying his eyes out, waiting for you to rescue him--\"   
  


"He shot Teketo with his ret gun."

"\....In self defense, or fear, I'm sure.\"

"No."

"\Adrienne, I don't find your disobedience amusing.  I order you to retrieve Yuugi!  You--\"  She touched the glowing little cross once more, effectively ending the conversation.  Pegasus was in no position to order her around.  She had only stopped by that night as a guest at the Drip Crell, and had found herself dragged into an **interesting fight.  And if he was so worried about Yuugi, that was his problem.  The ancient one was going to be extremely pissed at him.  Adrienne, however, had a different agenda to answer to: one that didn't include dying at the hands of two well-armed slayers.  She stalked off down the street, wondering what Malik would think of all this.**

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

  
Bakura hit the unlock on his keychain and threw open the back of their armored van.  The blue eyed teen threw Yuugi into it and crossed to the driver's side door.  The last vampire was lunging towards Bakura with fangs barred and semi-automatic firing.  Bakura leapt into the van next to Yuugi as the engine roared to life.  The tires squealed as the van lurched forward, Bakura hanging onto one flapping back door for cover.  He took aim and fired his ret gun, grunting as the kick threw him back into the vehicle, swearing, doors slamming shut behind him.  Kaiba pealed out onto the street, swerving on two tires, a cloud of smoke and a dead vampire the only trace left behind.

"So," Bakura straightened from his sprawled position and began amiably.  "You're Mutou Yuugi, Tracker-boy Exraordinaire?"  Yuugi regarded him with a wide, fearful gaze.

"I--I'm Yuugi," he barely whispered, curling his arms around his knees protectively, keeping his amethyst orbs trained on the vinyl kimono wearing, gun-toting, white haired teen.  "What d'you want with me?"

  "Well, Yuugi, I'm Bakura Kazuma, crypt raider, assassin-for-hire, and world class Vispilio at your service.  My horribly driving partner here is Kaiba Seto, a--"

"Slayer."  His cold tone inferred that was all he wanted Bakura to say.  The green eyed boy's gaze flickered uncertainly to Kaiba before returning to Yuugi, smiling confidently.

"--a big jerk.  But don't worry; we're here to help you, and millions of others in the process.  Have you ever heard of Nyctomortem, kiddo?"  Yuugi blinked, slowly turning his gaze to stare at the back of Kaiba's head. 

"Yes, Bakura-san," he paused, still looking strangely at the tall, handsome driver.  "They're the organization dedicated to murdering vampires and dunpeals," he whispered.  Bakura frowned.

"I wouldn't exactly call it _murder, but yeah, basically.  You're a Tracker, which makes you imperative to the furthering of the Cause."_

"The--the Cause?" he asked with trepidation.  Bakura clung to a large piece of equipment as Kaiba swerved around something, sticking out a hand to stop Yuugi from being thrown across the back of the van.

"The Cause: to wipe out all blood suckers and their bastard children, like you said."  Yuugi swallowed.

"I--I don't want..."  He trailed off wordlessly, hanging his head.  "Where are we going?" he inquired in a small voice.

"To a safehouse.  Where you can't be found."  Yuugi didn't ask any more questions, and as he soon had his head buried in his knees, shoulders shaking, Bakura didn't say anything else, either.  He slipped into the front seat next to Kaiba, casting a dubious look back at the small teen.

"Kid's acting like we're kidnappers or something," Bakura complained in a low voice, so only Kaiba would hear him.  Keeping his eyes firmly on the road, Kaiba answered.

"We are.  He obviously did not want to come with us."  Bakura rolled his eyes, pushing pale bangs out of his face.  

"We're going to have to un-brainwash him, then."

"Hunh," he grunted noncommittally, choosing not to dignify Bakura's assessment with an answer.  Silence reigned for several minutes until finally, Kaiba crinkled up his nose.  "What the hell is wrong with you anyway?  What you said was the foulest thing I've ever heard, and that's saying something!"  It took Bakura a moment to realize Kaiba was referring to his foreskin comment at the club.  He snickered.

"Gotta keep myself entertained somehow..."

Kaiba pulled off the freeway after several hours of driving and careened down a rural road, heading for a dark speck on the horizon.  He'd had a long duration of silence to think of what he would say to Mutou Yuugi when it became necessary for him to do so.  And still, all he could envision was the teen's large, watery eyes, and the way he'd looked at him in horror after he'd blown away that vampiress... 

[What do I care if he's afraid of me?  It'll probably just make things easier in the end...I could terrorize him into helping us...Christ, I don't want to do that...]  He wondered if it had been such a good idea to just bust up the club and **take** Yuugi...if perhaps they ought to have waited and visited him at daybreak.  Kaiba recalled the way the vampire scum had leered at the beautiful boy, and the deadened look that had appeared in his expressive eyes.  His grip tightened on the steering wheel.  [Yes, that was the right thing to do.] he thought determinedly.  No one was going to torment Yuugi anymore, especially not in a sexual manner.  Kaiba would make sure of it.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  Buwahahahaha! I love torturing all my characters!!  Heheehe, and I have major torture planned for Kaiba-kun, hehehe....::runs off cackling::

Yuugi:  ::sweatdrop:: Um, well, please review--they encourage her!  Uh, which I _think is a good thing... she's a bit obsessed with blood lately.  Oh well._


	3. Chapter 3

Xpyne:  Okay, geocities sucks my ass.  I have a geocities page already, but the stupid site won't let me log in, so I can't edit it or make a new one, so no vampy pix.  u__u  

Yuugi:  This story is rated R, and if you haven't figured out why yet, well, you're more naïve than me.  Solitaire and Xpyne don't own me or any other YGO characters, nor are they making any sort of profit off their fics or else they might actually be able to afford a website...

Xpyne:  I hope everyone likes this chapter.  Sometimes I think I get too boring with the obligatory Shadi/Pegasus/anyone who isn't a bishie scenes...so I try to keep them to a minimum.  It's all about my Yu-chan and his boi-friendos anyway. 

Yuugi:  *^^*  ::likes being Xpyne's favorite::  Read and review! Especially those of you who are friends with Xpyne on line, yet never review; you know who you are, lol.

Firemoth

Chapter 3

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

The massive, dimly lit room's double doors swung open, admitting a beautiful woman with pale blue eyes and long, dark red hair.  Her black cloak billowed as she marched into the chamber, stiletto heeled boots clicking loudly on the marble floor.

"Malik, we have a problem," she stated coolly, addressing a slender form lounging in the shadows.  The man called Malik made no response; he merely shifted slightly in his throne-like chair and continued to stroke the head of his favorite pet sitting at his feet.  She stopped a few feet in front of him, an elegant hand going to her hip haughtily.  "Yuugi has been kidnapped."  There was a long pause, until finally, Malik drawled in a bored tone.

"How is this a problem for me?  Alluring as he is, I have no interest in the squirt."  The woman's cold blue eyes flashed.

"Don't pretend to be so thick; you know as well as I do Shadi will be out for blood--The Enforcers are supposedly 'the best' vampire guard money can buy, and," she quirked her red brows challengingly.  "They failed."  Malik sat forward in his seat, elbows resting on the arms and his chin resting atop his hands.  His pet looked up, watching the exchange silently.  "Shadi will be wanting your aide."

"_Aaaay-_driene," he taunted.  "Don't bother me with such painfully dull news.  If Shadi has any sense, he _will_ show up soon enough...and I will be ready for him.  If you think that's a problem--fix it."  He stared at her with intimidating lavender eyes.  "And if you can't, _then_ come to me, for your execution.  I have no use for incompetent servants."  Her full, pale lips twitched into the barest of smiles, amusement sparkling in her eyes.

"I'd enjoy watching you **try**."  Adrienne regarded him for a moment, her pale eyes calculating.  Finally, she spoke again.

"We're better than the Enforcers: smaller, more controlled, more ruthless.  You lead the best team in existence...but we're not equipped to deal with Nyctomortem.  No one is.  That is going to be a problem.  I'm here to advise against taking this job.  Mutou Yuugi is not worth our destruction..." Adrienne knew it wasn't about Mutou.  Rare Hunters did not take a job for the price or for the person.  It was the challenge.  Rare Hunters were the best; they only worked for extraordinary rewards and only took extraordinary jobs, and they did not fail.  "...Pride is not worth our destruction."

"Ah, but we take the jobs no one else can handle.  Pride is always worth the price...  What am I worth if I refuse not a mediocre stunt better suited to lower-class-for-hire, but the ultimate challenge?"

"More than you are dead."  Malik burst into laughter.

  "You honestly think so lowly of me?  Of the Rare Hunters?  We **will take on Nyctomortem if it becomes necessary, and we will win.  Call upon Rishid and the others; get them ready.  We will be working soon," he smirked, his pink tongue slipping hungrily over his fangs.**

"...Yes, Malik."  With that she swept out of the room, slamming the door behind her.  Malik chuckled to himself.  His pet looked up at him with large, doe brown eyes.

"You wouldn't _really_ kill Adrienne-sama, would you?" he questioned in his soft voice.  Malik flopped back into his plush chair and resumed stroking his veep's hair. 

"Hmm, I don't know...maybe."  Malik pulled his pet into his lap, running his dark hands over the boy's pale, willowy chest.  The pet gasped.  Malik leaned up to suckle on a peaked nipple.

"I--I like--oh--Adrienne-sama.  P-please don't kill her," he panted, clenching his eyes shut and bowing his head, long white locks making a curtain around his pale face.  Malik 'hmmed' against the young teen's chest, arms snaking around the effeminate boy's hips.

"You're not allowed to like my servants," he teased, his voice becoming a bit husky.

"I'm sorry, master."  Malik sat up straighter, pushing his veep against the arm of his throne.  His lavender eyes darkened with lust and his breathing became a bit uneven.  Long fangs slid slowly down from behind his wet lips.

"It's alright, pet.  You can make it up to me--_all night_."  

The veep nodded, his long white hair covering the look of sadness on his sweet face.  It always hurt so much when his master played with him...but it was the only way to keep his master happy.  It wasn't _all painful, at least.  And if his master was unhappy, it hurt a lot more, without any of the pleasure.  The fair skinned boy wrapped his arms lightly around his blonde haired owner, planting gentle kisses on his forehead.  Malik threw his favorite pet down on the floor before his chair and proceeded to 'play' with him._

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

The Vamp Van pulled onto a long, deserted driveway, the aged asphalt threatening to crumble under its weight.  Dawn was just beginning to break, tired pink tinge spreading across the dull, grey world; on the whole, unimpressive.  

Kaiba cut the engine, an uneasy silence settling after such a long period of mechanical hum.  He cleared his throat, well aware Bakura was watching him expectantly.  Still, he couldn't muster the will to say something stupid and obvious like, "We're here."  So he wordlessly unbuckled and got out of the van, stretching his long, slender legs.  He walked around to the back and threw open the doors.  Yuugi was asleep.  He sighed.  Climbing halfway into the vehicle, he shook the boy's shoulder.  Seeing as how this didn't produce the desired result of Yuugi waking up and getting out of the van, he shook him harder.  The diminutive one made a small noise, but remained asleep.

"Oh for Christ's sake, just carry him!" Bakura ordered, exasperated.  Kaiba sent his partner a patented death glare, but scooped up the Tracker nevertheless.  The kid couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds, and curled up he fit right into Kaiba's arms.  The slayer let his blue eyes roam casually over the other's slender form, noticing for the first time a trail of blood smearing down his left arm.  [Must have cut himself on the glass or metal of the cage at the club...when I dragged him across it.]  Kaiba knit his brow.  [Oops.]  He'd have to clean that once they got inside.

"You gonna call headquarters, or am I?" Bakura asked, drawing his attention away from chubby tear-streaked cheeks and soft pink lips.

"Nani?  Oh.  You call.  Tell them we've got the Tracker, condition good, and that we busted up Drip Crell 480-07--they'll like that," he added, smirking.  Nothing was worse for tentative vamp-human relations than crashing one of their little chain clubs, not that Kaiba cared.  He hated vampires and everything that had to do with them--especially Owners...  Nothing was worse for a fragile human psyche than being kept as a veep, whored out to a vile, parasitic night stalker.  After a few years, a veep lost his or her sense of humanity; became the pet: submissive, obedient, docile, broken.  It was worse than being turned.  At least if you were turned, and became a vicious bloodsucker, there was suicide.  Veeps were robbed of even that choice; their lives were not their own.  

There was a war raging, silent and honorless beneath the cover of darkness: human versus vampire.  The occasional scream pierced the night to mark the fall of one warrior, but more often than not, slayers and vampires died without a sound, other than the ringing of a bullet shot or the hiss of a blade swung.  Some humans tried to pretend vampires were not a threat, and the occasional missing persons was to be expected.  Some beings wanted to coexist, set up blood banks for vampires, have humans donate on a monthly basis, keep the murder at bay.  Kaiba wasn't ignorant, and he didn't want peace.  He wanted nothing less than the total annihilation of every vampire and half vampire in existence.  There was no other way.  One species must die for the continuation of the other.  That was the law of nature.

Kaiba shifted Yugi into one arm so he could place his hand on a smooth metal plate hidden beneath a rotting wooden shutter on the large, barn-like hovel.  It scanned and identified his handprint, 'KAIBASETO: CRUENTUS, ENTRY LEVEL 12' flashing briefly over the screen, before a small needle rose out of the center and pricked Kaiba's palm, drawing blood.  The blue eyed boy waited impatiently while the security machine analyzed his blood, ensuring he was still human and therefore fit for entry.  With a low bleep, the screen turned green, accepting him, and there was a loud hiss of hydraulics.  The dilapidated wooden door creaked open, revealing gleaming silver beyond.  While Kaiba pulled out his Nyctomortem ID key, a small black metallic cross engraved with the initials KC, Bakura allowed his own hand to be tested for procedure's sake, 'BAKURAKAZUMA: VISPILIO, ENTRY LEVEL 10' rolling across the metallic plate.  Kaiba used his key, and the heavy metal entrance slid open.  When he stepped over the threshold, however, a grid of red lasers swept menacingly over the tall teen and an automated voice sounded.

"\Halt.  Unauthorized being trespassing in conjunction with--_Kaiba Seto_.  Protection procedure defense attack commenc--\"

"Override code: assensus initiate 1986625," Kaiba stated blandly.  The machine's voice faltered.

"\--Code accepted.  _Kaiba Seto--please enjoy your stay at safehouse 1045 with your guest.\"  Then the voice went quiet along with the sensory lasers, allowing the trio entry.  _

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

A loud crack reverberated through the icy room, a hardly audible hiss of breath following.  Kimo bit his lower lip hard to keep from making any other sound, his raw, burnt flesh stinging from the harsh slap.

"Imbecile!"  Another slap.  "Bungler!"  Another.  "Gutter scum, brainless, inept--!"  The fierceness of the next blow caused a small chunk of Kimo's seared flesh to break off and splatter onto the floor.  Pegasus recoiled in disgust, wiping the blood from his hand with a red silken handkerchief.  He reached for his ebony cane, cold, slender hand curling around its diamond encrusted head.

"Enough."  The frigid voice was low and quiet, but it commanded obedience with far more power than any of Pegasus's shouted threats could.  The silver haired man stilled, looking uneasy, tightening and loosening his grip on his cane.

"M-master Shadi...?" he questioned weakly, the rage of the prior minute evaporating to leave a sickly sense of dread.  "You're excused," he muttered to Kimo, who quickly ran out of the office, hobbling slightly as Bakura's solar cube had burnt half his body despite the fact he'd leapt behind Yuugi's couch just in time.

"Your energy would be better spent searching for my...employee, rather than punishing your own for **your mistakes."  His tone was soft, unemotional, but dangerous.  Pegasus swallowed nervously, throat dry.**

"Master, I--"

"Mistakes you must rectify."

"Yes, Master, if only--"

"If only _what_? ...Pegasus."  Pegasus swallowed again, twitching under the steady ice blue stare.  His own golden brown eye, the one a slayer many years ago **hadn't gouged out, rolled around anxiously, as if the pressing shadows could offer him some advice.**

"If only," he near whispered.  "If only the guards had...if they had...."

"Guards _you_ hired...."

"But I--it wasn't my fault, two _Associated slayers coerced their way into my establishment--" he fumbled to get the words out before he lost his nerve._

"If only you had hired better guards."

"The--the Enforcers are the--_the best, Master," he stuttered._

"If only you had not allowed Mutou-chan to work on a night he escaped from two Associated slayers.  If only you had protected my valuable investment.  If only you had acted competently when you had the chance.  If only there were still reason for me to value," he blinked slowly, his misty cerulean eyes narrowing ever so slightly, "your life..."  Pegasus took an involuntary step backward, face contorting desperately.

"There is!" he hurried.  "There is--I--I planted a tracking device on Yuugi-boy, I did!"  He looked slightly relieved at his own words.  "Yes, I can find him--I put a tracking device on him."  Shadi's hard expression lightened minusculely, but enough for Pegasus to take some comfort in.  He laughed, a strained, high-pitched canter.  "I'll have him back by the end of the--the, well I'll have to see where he is, where they've taken him, that is, and get a team together, and--"

"I will take it upon myself to hire the team, as your previous choice was so obviously inadequate.  You, of course, will be paying the bill."

"Oh, _of course_--"

"I will be seeing Malik about this."

"M-Malik?" Pegasus repeated faintly.  Malik...Malik was the leader of the Rare Hunters.  Malik was sadistic.  Malik was insane.  Malik was frightening.  Malik cost not an arm and a leg, but the whole body and your soul.  Pegasus gulped.  "Are you, um, sure you want to bring him into this sordid affair?  I'm quite confident, really, that the Enforcers, with my Tracking device, would soon have all this mess set right--"

"I don't allow many to have _second chances, and this is...important, Pegasus.  The Rare Hunters are the only vampires I trust with this task.  They have worked for me before, and they," he gave the silver haired man a cold, significant glare, "have satisfied me.  I do hope you will cooperate with them."  His tone allowed Pegasus to know exactly what would happen to him should he not._

"Yes, yes; I will speak with Malik; we will recover Yuugi-boy."  He nodded much more enthusiastically than he felt.  The ancient one turned to leave.

 "It had better be soon.  I am a patient vampire, Pegasus.  I have lived several millennia and have learned how to wait.  I will see the day he is returned to me.  But children are like milk; they spoil quickly.  I shall be watching you..."

"Yes, oh powerful, ancient one, yes," he gushed, silvery strands fluttering as he bobbed his head up and down, groveling.  "Of course, and _thank you, great Shadi-sama, thank you for sparing me..." he trailed off, realizing that mid bow the ancient one had slipped into the shadows and disappeared without a trace.  He stood immobile for a long moment, brain working furiously.  It was going to take at least a week to set his affairs in order so as to make a discreet escape from the country possible.  In the meanwhile, he would need to assist Malik and his Rare Hunters...and if the boy discovered and removed the tracking device before then--Pegasus didn't want to think about it.  He shivered.  _

[One crisis at a time.]  He took a deep breath.  His grey brows furrowed, as he suddenly remembered himself.  [Damn those Enforcers!] he scowled.  [They are supposed to be able to deal with any threat, _especially_ slayers associated with Nyctomortem!  I don't want to deal with that insufferable prick Malik and his thugs!  I'm putting one of my men on his team to keep an eye on them...who knows, their reputation is so good, perhaps I won't have to leave the country after all.  But if they can't find those slayers and little Yuugi-boy before they've reached Nyctomortem's headquarters, there's no chance.  How we ever let those pathetic humans build up an army under our noses is beyond me...]  It suddenly occurred to Maximilian Pegasus that it was indeed Nyctomortem that was behind all this.  [But why?  Why kidnap Yuugi-chan?  What are those damn livestock planning?]  The business man crossed the room to a large portrait of a sadly smiling blonde woman.  He sighed.

"Ah, Cecilia..." he murmured.  "Where is your immortal soul?  I miss you so."  Touching a hidden switch, the portrait swung forward, revealing a safe beneath.  Spinning the three combination locks, he stopped them one by one at the appropriate number.  The little metal door slid open with a hiss, revealing a red satin pillow with a single item lain on it.  Pegasus reached inside, pulling out the small, golden sphere.  He rolled it over in his hand, gazing down at the eye of Horus in high relief on the sphere.  

He may have only lived a few centuries to Shadi's millennia, but there were things he could do the other could not.  Powers he possessed the other was not even aware of.  Shadi had been uncharacteristically foolish in assuming that if he could not control the ancient item, no one could.  His grip on the gleaming trinket in his hand tightened.

"Yes, Cecilia, I do think it's time I made use of my Millennium Eye..."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"\You have him?\"

"Affirmative," Bakura confirmed smugly.  "Of course we have him; that was the job."

"\I'm well aware of what 'the job' was, seeing as how I assigned it to you.\" the woman's voice answered coolly.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, Isis-chan.  He's fine, we're fine--not that you'd asked--" Bakura allowed his voice to drop in mock hurt.  "--and we're secure in house 1045.  Mission accomplished."

"\Not yet, you cocky bastard.  You two still need to get him to headquarters--and don't call me that.\"

"Sure thing, Ishtar-sama," he supplied cheerfully.  On the other line of the video call, the dark haired woman frowned, narrowing her royal blue eyes.  Bakura and Kaiba were good--she'd give them that--but they'd never been the type to take orders to the letter.  Something was obviously up.  There was something Bakura hadn't mentioned yet, and the way he was smirking, she knew it couldn't be good.

"\Where is the Tracker?\"

"Sleeping in the other room.  Kaiba's watching him."  Isis pursed her lips.

"\How many vampires did you kill?\" she asked flatly.

"Vampires?  What vampires?  Our orders were to confront the Tracker alone, if at all possible."  Isis waited, drumming her fingers lightly on her desk.  Bakura grinned.  "Turns out it wasn't possible, though."

"\How many, any of status, where, and who saw?\" she sighed.

"Uh, lost count.  They came out of the woodwork when Kaiba started swinging that big sword of his around the local Drip Crell--" he began flippantly.

"\You attacked a night club??  Godamnit, every vampire in the city-state is going to be tracking you!  You've endangered the mission, not to mention the boy!  Can't you two do anything subtly?!\" she demanded.

"Ah, don't worry, Isis-chan, Kaiba and I have it under control.  We took out a full Enforcer squad--"  Isis swore.  "--and stole their main attraction.  Kid was working at the club, by the way; of course we're going to be tracked.  We'll handle it.  It's fine.  I said don't get your panties in a knot."

"\He was working for vampires?\" Isis asked incredulously, forgetting her ire for a moment.

"Yeah.  Suppose that's how he's survived so long.  Kaiba says he's untouched, though."

"\....\"

"See you soon, on-na."

"\Wait, I need location stats on the Drip Crell chain you two hit up.\"

"Autonomous city-state district 480, Etnamaa City, chain level 07."  Isis glared.

"\You just had to hit up a level 07, the biggest club they make, in an infested district.  I should fire you.  No other slayers would have been so reckless, with such utter disregard for that young boy's safety.\"  Bakura only smirked.

"And with the security over the guy no other slayers would have gotten him out alive, Isis-chan."  He gave her a saucy wink.  "Kazuma out." 

After cutting the connection, Bakura got up, stretching.  He had to admit he was a bit curious as to what Kaiba was up to.  [Wonder if Mutou is awake?]

He wandered through the hallways of the moderately spacious safehouse, peering into rooms for signs of life.  Eventually, he opened a metal door that led to a neat room containing one small teen with strange hair curled up in a bed and one large teen who was just strange in a chair beside him.

"He still asleep?"

"Yes.  Must stay up at night and sleep during the day, like you."

"Un.  Good, 'cause if he stayed up all day _and_ night like you, that'd just be creepy.  I'm going to go crash in the next room.  If he wakes up, feed him.  He probably eats three times a day like me, too."

"Shut up."

"Okay, okay.  Just--" Bakura offered a rare, apologetic smile.  "--you eat something, too alright?"  Kaiba didn't respond, his eyes still trained on the slumbering body before him.  Bakura sighed.  He couldn't make Kaiba take care of himself--not that he _cared_ or anything--but he did try every so often.  He left, closing the door behind him.  [God knows he's been through enough.]

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Yuugi awoke around noon in a strange place.  He sat up, looking around.  The tall slayer named Kaiba Seto was asleep in an armchair beside the bed he was in.  Sleeping, the boy looked a little less imposing and a little more...approachable.  Yuugi rose to his knees and leaned forward, one hand resting on the arm of the chair as he took a better look at the handsome man who had officially changed his life.  He couldn't go back to the club; not now, not ever.  

The slayer wasn't wearing his long white cloak (it was hanging on a peg by the door) and most of his weapons were no where to be seen; only his long sword was still present, standing upright against the wall.  Yuugi held his breath so as not to disturb the other's slumber and leaned in very close without really realizing it.  His upturned nose was mere millimeters from the brunette's own longer, slender one, and he lifted his free hand up slowly, hesitantly.  He brushed an errant strand of silky chestnut hair from the teen's face.

Kaiba awoke with a start and slammed Yuugi flat on the bed, his left forearm pressing hard on Yuugi's neck and his right hand pinning the smaller one's offending arm flat to the mattress.  His breathing went fast and his cold blue eyes were wide and angry.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" Yuugi rasped painfully from the pressure on his throat, struggling against the larger boy.  Kaiba released his arm and slid his forearm out from under Yuugi's chin, but remained on top of the slim teen.

"What were you doing?" he demanded.

"I-I just touched your hair; I'm sorry!  Please...!" he trailed off, staring fearfully up at the teen.  Touching him like this, could he feel he was different?  Breathing sweet and hard over him, could the slayer smell the vampire in him?  Was there still blood in his mouth?  Yuugi whimpered, turning away, not wanting to face the other's searching azure orbs any longer.  There was a long pause.

"...Why did you touch me?"  His tone was different now, softer somehow.  Yuugi swallowed, very aware of how heavy and strong and hard the body pressing him into the mattress was.

"G-gomen ne," he whispered, keeping his eyes averted.  "Forgive me..."  Kaiba rose onto his forearms and elbows, gaze still trained on the face below him.  He knew he should get off the boy, before he crushed him, or before he freaked him out, or before his body, which had never found the feel of another human's molded to it all that pleasing until now, reacted in ways that would embarrass him.  He got up, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"It was...a hunters' reflex.  I did not mean to hurt you," Kaiba offered as his version of an apology.  Yuugi lay very still, staring up at the ceiling, for a long moment.

[That was very stupid of me.  Why **did** I touch him?]

Kaiba cast a glance over at the Tracker, brow furrowing.  "Are you alright?"  

Yuugi finally moved, sitting up, and nodded.  He rubbed his throat and his arm, noticing a smear of red trailing down from under his left wrist protector cuff.  He blanched.  

"You're bleeding again; I washed your arm this morning, but the cut's under that protector and I couldn't get the damn thing off to dress it."  He reached for Yuugi's arm, but the boy drew it to his chest protectively. 

"It's fine."  Kaiba gave him a strange look.

"No it's not.  Take that thing off," he ordered.  Yuugi's stomach flopped.  If Kaiba saw the mark--he was very afraid of what the blue eyed boy would do.  Something of the fear pitted in Yuugi's stomach must have shown on his face, because suddenly Kaiba's eyes narrowed in understanding.  "You were bitten, weren't you," he said slowly.  Yuugi shook his head desperately, trying to deny it.

"No--" he clutched his arm protectively, scooting back against the headboard as Kaiba's long arm reached over and ensnared his, pulling it away.

"Take it off."  Yuugi was breathing very hard, trembling.  "I'm not going to hurt you; take it off."  

Yuugi obeyed, fingers shaking as he undid the complicated buckle.  The leather-like polymer cuff fell away, revealing two bloodied puncture wounds, scabs freshly cracked.  The violet eyed boy hung his head, awaiting judgment.  

"Was it your first time?"  His voice was emotionless and sounded slightly strained.  Yuugi was able to honestly nod his head, unable to look up, much less speak.  "Then you won't be turned, not from one bite..."  Yuugi couldn't respond, shameful tears gathering in his eyes.

[The Darkness drew from him.  I was too late.  It's my fault he is....tainted.]  Guilt settled in Kaiba's heart like a nauseous weight, and he convulsively gripped the other's forearm a little tighter, swallowing.

"As long as you are still human, it means nothing.  You...you are still yourself." 

[If only you knew the truth...you would hate me.  No, worse: you wouldn't even care; you'd just slay me.]  Tears rolled down Yuugi's round cheeks.

"....Look at me," Kaiba said quietly.  Yuugi raised his watery eyes silently.  Kaiba's empty hand reached up slowly, and he tugged down the high collar of his black turtleneck.  Beneath it were two small scars, old and faded, but still visible.  Still recognizable.  Kaiba pulled his collar back up, hiding the bite mark once more.  He dropped Yuugi's arm, looking away.  "You should clean that," he said quietly.

Yuugi nodded, sliding off the bed and padding across the carpet to an open door that led to a small bathroom.  He closed the door softly behind him, unaware Kaiba had been watching him walk.

[Why did I show him?  I've never shown anyone, not even Bakura...but then Bakura already knows.  Lots of people already know...but no one understands.  Why do I feel like Yuugi would understand?  Why did I show him??]

Yuugi emerged from the washroom a good half hour later, having decided to shower while he was in there.  Unfortunately, that left him with no clean clothes.  He opened the door timidly, stepping out of the steamy bathroom wearing his thigh, wrist, and neck protectors and a small white towel around his waist.  Everything in this place was white: the bed, the walls, the carpet.  Yuugi felt very out of place, bright red, yellow, and jet black hair sticking out all over the place and black straps clinging to his damp skin.

"Kaiba-kun?" he ventured.  The brunette looked up the spaced out position he'd been sitting in and blinked a few times.  "I don't have any other clothes.  I don't have anything--my apartment--well, I guess I'm not leaving behind much, but it would have been nice to have brought another pair of underwear with me."  

Kaiba almost laughed.  Here he had been thinking all sorts of terrible things, about his past, and about his future.  And Yuugi was worried about not having any underwear.  Which, Kaiba considered, was a legitimate problem.  He stared intently at all the pale skin showing, contrasting with black straps and buckles.  Couldn't let the kid walk around like that; he'd start attracting more than vampires in a heartbeat.  Kaiba cleared his throat, shaking his head a little.

"I'll get you something."  As he stood, he suddenly realized what Yuugi had said.  He turned around.  "You'll stay with us willingly?"  

Yuugi met his gaze, a light in his expressive, violet eyes Kaiba hadn't seen there before, and a determination he hadn't thought the soft spoken, diminutive teen was capable of evident in his voice when he answered.

"Yes."  

Kaiba's face split into a wry grin, the first Yuugi had seen on the brunette since he'd met him.  "Good."  With that, he left.  Yuugi stared down at his toes, blushing slightly.  Kaiba-kun was very handsome when he smiled.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  Oh, they're so cute!!  Heehee, well, we'll be finding out about Kaiba-kun's mysterious past sooner or later, and I bet you readers will be surprised....or at least I hope you will be...

Yuugi:  Do I like Kaiba-kun or Yami-sama??  x_x`` 

Xpyne:  ^______^;; Er, both?  Next chapter: more Malik and more embarrassing sexual tension between Yuugi and Seto, yay!  And what exactly are Vispilos and Cruentuses, you ask?  Buwahahaha, here's a hint: those are Latin words.  *^^*  But hey, all in good time, ne?

Yuugi:  -_-;;  Please review, mina!  Evil Xpy-chan needs shameless encouragement and constructive comments.

Xpyne:  Yes, review!!!  And thank you for still reading this crap and putting up with my slow plot development.


	4. Chapter 4

Xpyne:  I'm very sorry that this update took so long.  High school crushes my writing spirit and takes up all my free time.  u__u;  

Yuugi:  ::pets her head::  Don't worry, Xpy-chan, you're a senior.  Almost free!

Xpyne:  X__x;;;  Haha, well, until then, please enjoy what I manage to get written. 

Yuugi:  Oh, and Xpyne owns nothing!  Please don't sue!

Firemoth

Chapter 4

By Xpyne

__________________________

Cold, pale blue eyes remained unfocused and somber as the powerful man to whom they belonged brooded.  Mutou Yuugi had been taken from him.  People did not take things from him.  He did not allow it....the slayers would have to die.  He would hunt them with the methodical patience born of an afterlife three millennia long, and when he cornered them, he would slaughter the beasts as they deserved.  

He drummed his long, slender fingers on the arm of the plush chair in his chamber.  He wanted Yuugi back.  He never should have been taken in the first place; the best guards money could buy were always on call at the Drip Crell, for emergencies just as this.  Yet the Enforcers had failed.  

Shadi lifted an ornate set of golden scales from a glass case and placed it under his robe.  It was time to pay a visit to Malik.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"**That**'s the best you could find?"  It was near dusk, and Kaiba, tiring of sitting around all day with nothing to do, had kicked Bakura awake and enlisted his help in finding Yuugi a change of clothes, since he personally had no idea where spare clothing would be, assuming there even was any.  

Yuugi himself had gone to sleep again, and Kaiba had felt very uncomfortable staying in the same room as Yuugi while he was practically naked.  It was just a...physical attraction.  They had nothing in common.  Except being the victims of vampires, and that didn't exactly make great conversation.  Kaiba kept telling himself fantasizing about the little Tracker was pointless.  They didn't need any weak, simpering bishounens around.  It'd only end up becoming burdensome.

"Well Christ, it's a safehouse, not a department store," Bakura returned peevishly, having spent the better part of the last hour looking for this, and had been somewhat proud of his find.  He held up the small red bodysuit with black, rubber-like accents.  "_I like it."_

Actually, Kaiba liked it, too.  The problem was just, well, maybe he liked it a little too much.  The brunette scowled.

"It's a _little girl's_ suit," he protested.

"So??  He's about three feet tall; there wasn't anything in the 'men's department' that would fit him," Bakura retorted sarcastically.  The blue eyed boy was about to yank the tiny red garment from the crypt raider's grasp when a pale hand beat him to it.

"I'm 4'10", thank you, and this is fine."  Both slayers looked down, surprised.  Yuugi smiled awkwardly up at them and slung the bodysuit over one bare shoulder, slipping out from between the two taller boys surreptitiously.  He crossed the room as silently as he'd entered it and left, heading towards his room to change, well aware two pairs of eyes were burning holes in the back of his head.

After a moment's silence--

"Well that was kind of creepy--did you hear him come in?"

"--No."

"Weird.  Kid's quieter than a vamp," Bakura commented.  "Anyway, it's your turn to service the van.  We're heading out tomorrow at dawn."  

Kaiba nodded absently, his thoughts flicking treacherously to red bodysuits.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"....I require your services."

"I know."

"I want the situation taken care of immediately."

"I know."

".....Are you willing?"

".....I have my team assembled, equipped, and waiting for my word."

"What is this going to cost Pegasus?"  

Malik raised his slender blonde brows.  "Pegasus?"  He stood, letting out a short, derisive laugh.  "Pegasus has nothing I desire; I require payment from _you_, oh Ancient One.  Surely you know what it is I'm after?"  He crossed the chamber, dark violet cloak fluttering about his slim form.  

Shadi let out a low dark chuckle, slipping golden scales bearing the ancient eye from under his own cloak.  He plucked a single white feather from his dark turban and placed it on the right hand tray, the all-seeing eye burning upon his forehead.  Malik tensed, but did not turn to face him.

"I know what means you seek to achieve your ends: the Millennium items.  It is your ends that I do not comprehend..."  The empty left hand tray dipped low, the feather rising.  Shadi allowed a thin smile to grace his lips.  "Still, it is obvious you have nothing but wicked intentions in store....  Pegasus is in possession of the Millennium Eye."  

Malik turned abruptly.  "What?"  His lavender eyes narrowed suspiciously.  "How do you know?"

"Because I gave it to him," he answered simply.  "It shall be yours--if you succeed in recovering Yuugi."  Malik allowed a lascivious smile spread wanly over his features.

"When have I ever failed?"

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

The pale haired boy wanted desperately to know where his master was going, but knew better than to ask.  He settled, instead, for lying on his stomach on the low couch draped in furs, large brown eyes peering over the arm following the Egyptian vampire's movements.

Malik strapped a pair of blunt swords to his back, adjusting the black leather criss-crossing over his chest.  On a sudden impulse, he snapped both blades out of their holsters and whirled, slicing through the air behind him with a grunt.  His willowy arms flowed back and forth, his short katanas acting as extensions of his body rather than as separate weapons, as he flew through various well-practiced moves.  It was clear he was good.  But anyone worth their blood already knew that.

When he finally froze, feet spread--far enough apart to be stable, but not so far that his balance was compromised in the slightest, one foot a few inches in front of the other--and chest heaving, a satisfied, excited sort of pant escaping his soft lips, he noticed his audience.  A predatory grin crept over his features, teeth as white as snow gleaming in the dim light.

"Pet..." he drawled, lavender eyes half lidded, swords held deathly still in position, the thin, wiry muscles of his arms bulging.  He stalked across the room in his lair, eying the sparsely clad, supple body splayed on top of the couch.  Ryou kept his gaze, his chocolate orbs the only thing visible between his shaggy hair and the arm of the couch.  As Malik approached him, he pointed one sword at his face.  When he drew nearer, the pale boy was forced to sit up halfway to avoid the blade.  He leaned back, eyes wide and fearful, trying to press himself against the cushions even further to escape the sharp edge.  It touched his pale neck, lightly, almost lovingly.  Ryou's breath was short and fast now, eyes on the blade caressing his throat.  The fear churning in his stomach was tangible; he realized what his master was about to do a second before he did it.

Malik sliced the blade across the pale throat and back into its sheath so quickly it was a flash of silver.  Ryou fell forward, crying out in pain, one hand already reaching for the searing wound out of instinct.  Malik dropped to the ground beside the divan, yanking Ryou's wrist away with one hand and clutching his luxurious white hair with the other. 

 Lying on his back he pulled Ryou so the boy's torso hung over him, blood pouring from the shallow slice onto his tanned face.  He lapped it up ravenously, moaning and arching his back, clearly fighting the urge to sink his teeth into the wound and suck.  His tongue wriggled wildly, lengthy fangs fully extended, as he panted hoarsely, the most lewd assortment of noises pouring from his throat.  Blood splattered everywhere, mingled with salty tears.  As the flow finally began to staunch, Malik jerked his pet's head back farther, stretching the skin abruptly and starting the flow afresh.  Ryou whimpered, his thin hands clenching the edge of the couch pure white.  

"God, you taste so fucking good..." he growled, finally allowing the blood to stem.  It trickled a while longer, until stopping.  Malik pried one of Ryou's hands from the couch--the one that had clutched his pale throat unbidden.  He licked it avariciously, worshiping each long, pallid digit until the hand was clean.  Then he sat up, blood still splattered all over his face, shoving Ryou back onto the divan.  "...so fucking good..." he repeated, straddling the slender veep and rocking forward, his jutting erection grinding against the other boy.  He pulled at Ryou's shoulders encouragingly, undeterred by the human's pained, unenthusiastic response.  "C'mon."  He ground his hips again.  Ryou's face was still screwed up in agony, white throat working laboriously.

"....Unh....too--deep--" he gasped, wincing each time his neck moved.  A fleeting expression of concern passed over Malik's visage before it was replaced with a scowl.

"I didn't cut you too deep," he denied.  Ryou drew in small, trembling puffs, fresh trickles of crimson liquid dribbling from the cracking clots with every breath he took.  "Oh, fucking hell," Malik sighed, getting off his veep.  He strolled to the doorway and opened it, poking his head out into the corridor.  "RISHID!" he hollered.  A moment later a tall, broad man in a dark violet cloak appeared.

"Yes, Master Malik?"  Malik crinkled his nose in annoyance, gesturing for Rishid to enter the chamber.

"It's Ryou again," he answered in an impatient voice.  "Fix him," he demanded.  Rishid's dark eyes widened briefly and he strode to the veep's side.  Ryou was tensed and squirming on the couch, struggling to breathe.  Rishid dropped beside him, pressing his light blue handkerchief to the boy's throat.  He narrowed his slanted eyes, lips becoming a thin, disapproving line.

"Malik..." his tone bordered on warning.  "This is the third time in as many months.  If you're not more careful, you are going to kill him."  Malik folded his mocha colored arms over his chest, frowning.  "They're not very resilient, humans.  This one in particular is fragile."  

Malik wiped the drying blood from his mouth sullenly.  He shifted his weight from one hip to the other guiltily, eyeing his injured pet.  Ryou was blinking his wide eyes blearily, a pool of his own blood staining his hair and dripping onto the floor.  The veep shuddered, heavily lashed lids drooping.  

"Get me some gauze and a blanket," he ordered, disgust leaking into his voice.  Malik obeyed, producing the objects quickly.  Rishid removed his sopping handkerchief and replaced it with the gauze, carefully lifting Ryou's head to allow himself better access to the long, slender neck.  Malik tucked the blanket around his veep and then stepped back, face neutral and uninterested.  His tightly clenched hands gave him away, though.

"Will he be alright?"  Rishid shot him a withering look.

"_This_ time."  He threw his soaked handkerchief to Malik, who caught it reflexively.  "Why don't you suck on that and leave him alone next time?"

"Get out," he spat coldly.  Rishid rose silently and exited without a backward glance.  The blonde vampire stood inert for a moment before glancing down at his favorite pet.  He brushed an errant lock of silver from the teen's face fondly, fingers lingering on his ashen cheek.  Growling suddenly, he chucked the bloodied kerchief into waste basket across the room.  [Damn Rishid.... I _am careful!]  He stood there fuming for a second, absently licking his hand clean, until he got his emotions in check.  It was, he supposed, for the best he couldn't make love right now, despite his high state of arousal; he had work to do._

Leaving the room in rather a foul mood, he struck the small, upside down cross on the collar on his black crop top.

"Rare Hunters.  Throne room.  Now," he snapped, stalking towards the designated meeting spot himself.  Upon entering, he plopped down in his throne, waiting for his four team members to arrive.  They soon filtered in, slipping silently out of the shadows. 

Rishid and Adrienne came first, followed by a tall man in a striped mask, and lastly a slim male with long black hair pulled into a high ponytail, all four in long, dark violet cloaks with gold chain fastenings.

"We're leaving at nightfall.  Mutou is to be taken alive at all costs.  Unfortunately, we're cooperating with that fool Pegasus on this one..."  There was a collective murmur amongst the other four.  "I've had him contacted.  He's even sending along one of his gits to accompany us.  Surprisingly, he had the forethought to place a tracking device on the boy.  Of course, the slayers may have already found it and sent it off to try and defer us.  Either way, we're hunting Yuugi-kun's scent..."  At this, Malik lifted one lean arm and snapped his fingers.  

A handsome girl with short blonde hair hurried forward, bowing as she presented Malik with a carved wooden chest.  As the veep backed away respectively, the masked hunter's gaze followed her, eyes flashing with longing.  Malik ignored him, opening the chest on his lap.  Inside was a small, neatly folded pair of leather pants.  He raised them to his nose and took a long, deep inhalation.  Abruptly he threw the pants to the masked vampire.

"Take a good smell, Archane...yet another human you had better not **touch**."  Archane shot him a dirty look; it was common knowledge he coveted one of Malik's many veeps, a girl named Catherine.  Archane breathed in the scent of the pants and then shoved them at Adrienne.

"I've got his scent, thanks," she drawled, giving the pants a dubious look before handing them to Rishid.  "What, did you skulk through his dirty laundry?"  Malik quirked his blonde brows, a smirk playing over his lips.

"Funny you should ask.  It seems _Pegasus_ just happened to have those lying around...Delightful man that he is."  Adrienne grimaced, accepting the pants back from Rishid and passing them to the raven haired vampire.  He tossed his inky locks over his shoulder and inhaled deeply, vivid green eyes opening in surprise.

"Damn, he smells..." he paused, searching for an appropriate word.  "..._delicious."_

"He's a Tracker, Otogi," Adrienne explained haughtily.  Otogi's delicate brows rose in polite surprise.

"No kidding?  I thought those didn't exist anymore..."  He tossed the pants back to Malik.  "Someone ought to breed him.  I'd wait a decade or so for one of those."

Malik cleared his throat.  "As stimulating as your company always is," he began dryly, "I have business to attend to before we leave.  You know what we're up against...so be prepared to fight Nyctomortem if it comes to it."  He rose and swept out of the room, intent upon returning to Ryou's side.  He had to admit; he had a bit of a soft spot when it came to that pale, willowy human.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

A soft noise rousted Yuugi from his light sleep.  He sat up, rubbing his eyes and blinking.  He was alone in the white room, surrounded by shadows.  [Maybe I imagined there was a noise...]  He yawned, rolling out of the twin bed and landing silently on his feet.  There weren't any windows in the room, but a single skylight in the 12 foot high ceiling was open, letting in a weak patch of moonlight.  The hairs on the back of Yuugi's neck pricked and he shifted uncomfortably, wondering what time it was.  [Where is Kaiba-kun?]  He rubbed his arms vigorously, trying to ward off the goosebumps rising all over his bare flesh.  He was suddenly very aware he was near nude, alone, and it was night time.  He spotted the vivid red bodysuit lying over the back of one cream colored chair and snatched it up.  As he straightened, clutching the suit to his chest, he knew someone was watching him.

"Did you miss me, hikari-chan?"

Yuugi's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could even gasp, pliant lips were molded to his, effectively sucking the very will to resist from the smaller boy.  Unlike the feathery caress in the alley, this kiss was fierce, dominating--hungry.  Tongue and lips and fangs were a jumble against Yuugi's mouth, enflaming every dirty desire the rather innocent Tracker had ever imagined.  And his bloodlust awoke.

Yuugi's violet eyes, which had been clenched in fear, resistance, and pleasure, flew open, their color now indecipherable from black in the dim light.  He shoved the Darkness away from him with unnatural strength, crying out in a voice more animalistic than his own.  The beautiful vampire looked shocked, lying on the floor, chest heaving.  He licked his fangs in an anticipatory manner, blood colored eyes locked onto blackened violet.

"...Come on, then, little light," he challenged, unbuckling his cloak and collar.  Slender fingers wrenched the black leather open, displaying an immaculate expanse of white throat, pulse fluttering erotically beneath that thin layer of milky virgin flesh.  "Or can the blood of a _vampire affect a dunpeal?"_

Yuugi had known this night stalker must be a pureblood--born a vampire--but seeing his unmarked neck, knowing he would be the first to taste him, aroused a possessive feeling in his very veins he'd never know.  He pounced on the vampire, delicate fangs ripping into the exposed flesh, sucking the glorious tributary that flowed forth.  He drank greedily, sucking the very life out of his would-be aggressor.  The door flew open.

"God--!"  

Yuugi's head shot up, violent red stream covering the lower half of his cherubic face.  He growled, leaping at the pure white-cloaked figure in the doorway, the slender vampire crumpling forgotten on the ground in a growing pool of his own blood.  Kaiba clutched his forearms instinctively, but the small dunpeal's fangs caught his jugular nonetheless.  

Kaiba froze, eyes wide and clouded, disbelieving.  He sunk slowly to his knees as the life was sucked out of him, his soft lips working soundlessly.  As his tall, powerful body collapsed, Yuugi still attached to him, the second slayer skidded to a halt in the doorway.  He took in the apparently slain vamp across the room and the form of his partner, splayed on his back, azure eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling, leeching Tracker murdering him before his wide green eyes.  Yuugi felt a large hand curl in his hair and wrench his head back, a spray of blood splattering from his detached mouth. 

"_Worthless, murdering, night stalking scum--!_"  

A hard, backhanded slap stung his cheek, and he screamed.

"**_Yuugi!_**"  

Yuugi's eyes flew open and he sat up, his hand going to his round cheek that still stung from a slap.  He was panting, and covered in a cold sweat, his throat raw from screaming.  Bakura was at his side, looking rather concerned.  

"Geez, I'm sorry I had to hit you so hard, kid, but you weren't waking up when I shook you."  Yuugi stared ahead unseeing, the terrible visions from his nightmare still fresh in his mind.  "...Yuugi?  You there?"  Yuugi leaned over the other side of the bed and retched.

"I'm fine," he whispered hoarsely, bile dripping from his lips.

"Um, yeah.  Sure you are."  He touched the silver "BV" on his collar.  "Kaiba, get over to Yuugi's room."

"/What's wrong?/"

"Kid just puked up a boatload of blood."

"/_Blood??_/" 

"Yeah."

"/........./"

The door opened, revealing the imposing figure of Kaiba Seto.  He crossed the room and pulled Yuugi into a sitting position.  The teen was wiping his mouth embarrassedly and tugging the thin bed sheet up to cover himself better.

"I'm okay--really..." he looked down at his hands, which were under the blanket, wringing a fold of it.  "...this isn't the first time that's happened..."

"The nightmare or the blood?" Bakura wanted to know.

"...."  

Kaiba wrapped one hand around the top of the blanket.  Yuugi's eyes widened.

"What are you--"

"I need to check for internal bleeding.  Did you get hurt when we--abducted you?"

Yuugi shook his head silently.  [No, I just drank a few pints for dinner, like the blood-craving whore that I am.]  Kaiba pulled the sheet down to his waist and he flushed despite himself.  He was still only wearing his vital protectors, the white towel and red bodysuit lying neatly on the armchair a short distance away.  Kaiba, planting one large hand's lengthy fingers on his chest, pushed him slowly onto his back, simultaneously shifting onto the bed so he was looming over the slight teen.  The brunette's breath came out in an inexplicable shudder, washing over Yuugi's cold skin.  Warm hands slid down his chest, thumbs brushing over erect nipples, causing Yuugi to shiver.  He looked up at the headboard, chewing on his lower lip, body tensed to snap.  The way Kaiba was touching him so gently was making him extremely nervous.  Kaiba pressed lightly under his ribs, and Yuugi hissed.

"Does that hurt?"

"....No.  It tickled."  The corner of Kaiba's mouth flicked upwards, threatening for a moment to smile.  Or maybe Yuugi just imagined it did; he couldn't be sure.  The gentle prodding moved lower, and across his stomach.  Kaiba lifted his head, his vivid, penetrating blue eyes locking onto Yuugi's.  The dunpeal was forcibly reminded of his nightmare, and the way those entrancing indigo eyes seemed to draw all attention to them.  He remembered their deadened appearance in his dream.  He flinched.  

"Does that hurt?" 

[If there's nothing wrong with me, he'll get suspicious about the blood...]

"Y-yes," he lied, allowing his face to contort with some of the pain he was feeling in his heart right now.  Kaiba appeared thoroughly convinced.

"There's no external bruise yet, but you might have ruptured something--" Kaiba broke off, allowing himself to stare intently at the pale flesh beneath him.  "...You'd better be alright in a few days..."  he mumbled, shaking his head.  He looked sharply up at Yuugi once more.  "If there's any pain, or any more of that--" he gestured toward the dark vomit stain on the carpet.  "You tell me."  Yuugi nodded.

Bakura, who had migrated to the other side of the room when Kaiba had taken over, strolled over to join them.  He thrust the bodysuit at Yuugi.

"Get dressed.  We're leaving at dawn," Bakura commanded.  Kaiba hesitated briefly, then hastily climbed away from Yuugi, mask of indifference settling over his features once again. 

"We'll be down the hall if you need us," the brunette stated coolly.  The pair filed out of the room, leaving Yuugi in a state of emotional turmoil.  As he nervously unstrapped his protectors, pulling on the tight bodysuit, he couldn't stop the torrent of thoughts rushing through his mind.  [I think I love the Darkness--but then why does Kaiba-kun's touch feel so--so--so _good_..?  Ah, he makes me wish a thousand times more that I was human....]  He imagined his horrible dream again, and the terrible thrill he'd received from breaking free of his moral constraints.  [...I deserve to be slain.]  He tugged on his black Kevlar-leather polymer boots and re-strapped his vitals.  He thought of the Darkness.  [Can vampires even love?  Are they capable?  ...Did my father love my mother?]  He'd never known either of them.  Somehow, though, he couldn't imagine theirs had been any sort of enchanting romance.  Yuugi doubted his father even knew he existed.  

When he had finished dressing, skin tight crimson molding to his slender body under bulky black knee, elbow and shoulder pads, he worried his lower lip, staring at the blackening stain marring the purity of the white room.  He stained everything he touched.  

Yuugi ran into the bathroom and collected some towels and soap.  He wet one, and returned to the bedroom to apply it on his vomit.  The scent of blood and bile nauseated him, but he cleaned with a desperate sort of fervor, determined to start fresh, to do something right for once.  As he scrubbed, rising frequently to rinse off towels, he began to think seriously about what he was getting himself into.  

What exactly did Nyctomortem expect from him?  And what exactly _was a "Tracker"?  Yuugi knew he attracted vampires, no shit, but _why_??  And how could his vampire magnetism possibly help "save millions of lives"?  What was Nyctomortem going to do, sit him in the middle of a town and kill whatever came near?  Yuugi knew he refused to be bait anymore...he'd just escaped from __one cage.  But whether he was even going to be given a choice in the matter was questionable.  He wondered what Kaiba-san and Bakura-san were going to do.  A depressing notion came to Yuugi: what if once they reached wherever it was they were headed, Kaiba-san and Bakura-san left him and he never saw them again?  _

[I guess I'll just have to wait and see...]  Secretly, he hoped they'd become his friends one day.  He'd never had a friend before.  But then again, dunpeals weren't supposed to have friends.  Dunpeals shouldn't exist.  He scrubbed even harder, not noticing the carpet was starting to fray under his assault.  He'd wipe it clean, and no one would be able to tell he'd ruined the white façade.

[No one will be able to tell blood touched this room.] 

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

The soft click of the receiver sounded in the darkened room.

"...."

"They have him."

"...."

"Safehouse 1045, and they plan on movin' him at dawn.  That gives you about nine hours."

"Thank you."  Another soft click indicated the communication was cut.  The figure at the desk in the shadows rose.  Firemoth was going to fail, or everything would be lost.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  Give me lots of reviews, please!  School is so depressing and reviews cheer me up.  I love it when people talk about the things they liked or didn't like in my fic; makes all the effort that much more fun!  *^__^*

Yuugi:  -__-''  Maybe you readers can convince her to stop torturing me.  Did I really have to throw up all that blood I drank?? x_x;;;

Xpyne:  But your little human tummy didn't like all that!  Had to come out somehow....and if anyone should be complaining, it's Ryou, lol.  Oh and I just read _Interview with the Vampire_ by Anne Rice last weekend.  Oh my goodness, it was so great!!  Inspiring, even.  Can't believe, with my vampy fetish, it took me 'til now to read Rice.  I'm already starting _The Vampire Lestat_, hehe.  I highly recommend these to everyone.

Yuugi:  Poor Ryou-kun.  Bye bye, mina!


	5. Chapter 5

Xpyne:  Woohoo!  Another chapter done!  I wrote like 9/10 of it a million years ago, but the last couple scenes I played with forever.  I wrote them one way, then thought of a plot device I wanted to throw in, in the future, that wouldn't work, so I had to re-write them, eh.  But I think I know where this thing is going now.

Yugi:  Why do you make me into such a tart?  I'm in love with everybody!

Xpyne:  ^__^;;  What?  You're a tart if I say you're a tart.  At least you get some action in this chapter.

Solitaire:  ::hopefully:: ...Does he?

Xpyne:  Action, not "action."

Solitaire:  oh. -_-  And I demand some under-writing credit here.

Xpyne:  ::makes a face::  All mine, go away.  You're the one who doesn't like vampies and mermies.

Solitaire:  .......... ::goes off to pout, dragging her Seto plushie with her::

Xpyne:  Heehee.  Well, enjoy!

v * v * v * v * v

Firemoth

by Xpyne

Chapter 5

"Want to play poker?"

"No."

"Blackjack?"

"No."

"Rummy?  Craps?  Hearts?"

"**I don't want to play cards.**"

"...........Go fish?"  Bakura frowned.  They always played cards when they had nothing better to do on jobs.  Granted, it got annoying when Kaiba rubbed it in his face every time he won, which was almost always.  But it passed the time.  Kaiba rolled his eyes and picked at his cold turkey sandwich Bakura had made for him.  "Well...will you at least go feed the Tracker?"

"....Yeah."  The lanky brunette rose, putting his untouched dinner on a white tray and added a glass of water.  He walked slowly to the door.

"You know, I made that for _you."  Kaiba blinked, glancing down at the food as if this was news to him.  Bakura didn't look up, now making a house of cards._

"I'm not hungry."  The door shut behind him.

Yuugi's head shot up, ears perked.  He could hear someone approaching.  ...The forcefulness of the soft tread....the length of the stride...the weight of each step resonating off the white-washed drywall in the hallway--it was Kaiba-san.  Yuugi stared helplessly at the soiled towel in his hands for a moment, before throwing it under the bed and rising to his feet as a hesitant knock sounded at the door.

"....Come in, Kaiba-san."  The door opened, revealing the tall slayer behind it.  His black clad form entered, carrying a tray Yuugi could smell turkey on.  His eyes lit up.  "Ooh, food!"  Kaiba nodded.  He set the tray on the bed and Yuugi climbed up to sit next to it.  "I'm starved!"  

Kaiba sat on the other side of the tray and watched as the little Tracker devoured half the sandwich and the vitamin granola bar before coming up for air.

"Thank you, Kaiba-san."

"....Just--just Kaiba is fine."  The blue eyed boy brushed his hair out of his eyes, not looking at his companion.  "I'm not much older than you anyway."

"Really?"  Kaiba-kun was much more interesting than half a turkey sandwich.  "When's your birthday?"

Kaiba scowled.  [I...I don't know.]  

"...."

"I was born June 4, 4097," he recited, as if that would help.

"And I should care why?"  Yuugi looked abashed, and took another bite of his sandwich to avoid responding.

[What's he being so nosey for??  What does it matter if I don't know my own birthday?  My past is none of his business.]  However, he couldn't help the little twinge of guilt he experienced when seeing how the smaller teen had drawn in on himself slightly at his harsh words.  Kaiba didn't **want to have a conversation.  [So why am I still sitting here?]**

"....I'm seventeen.  So is Bakura."  Yuugi didn't respond for a moment, not quite sure what would set the other teen off.

"Wow, you guys look a lot older...."  [They are so cool.  I wonder if--if they have--]  Large violet eyes widened and his head swiveled towards the far wall, pointed ears attentive.  "What was that?"

Kaiba diligently concentrated on the silence surrounding them.  His brow creased.  "I didn't hear anything," he announced, as if that settled the matter.

"No, Kaiba-saa--" the diminutive boy swallowed, glancing up at the brunette from under heavy black lashes.   "Kaiba-kun.  I heard--there it is again!"  Kaiba looked mildly put out. The blue eyed slayer prided himself on his highly acute senses; if he didn't hear a noise, there wasn't one. 

".......Perhaps you heard Bakura," he conceded in a clearly doubtful tone.  Yuugi frowned.  It wasn't like he could announce, "Hey, I have supernatural senses."  He worried his lower lip.  [What could it be?]  Yuugi had learned long ago to fear all slight noises in the night.

"I'm..." he let the words die on his lips.  Kaiba's brow furrowed; the diminutive Tracker's eyes were wide and unfocused, his plush lower lip quivering marginally.  His voice was faint as he murmured, "I'm not going back...."  And then, Kaiba heard it.

A soft click, the displacement of air as something slipped through an air duct.  And then the lights went out.

He leapt to his feet and lunged for his sword, only to feel it was not where he had laid it.  His blue eyes widened and he inhaled tightly.  The whoosh of a cloak, a breath of air, the zing of metal soaring towards him: Kaiba threw up his metal clad forearm to try and deflect the blow he knew was coming, the blow he knew would most likely make it through the half an inch of his armor.  A cry was torn from a reluctant throat.

Kaiba dropped to the ground, surprised to say the least.  The black haired vampire that had cried out was throwing himself back into the shadows, Kaiba's pilfered sword flung dangerously off course through the air.  Yuugi had kicked him hard in the chest, effectively ruining his attempted decapitation of one blue eyed slayer.  The sword embedded itself in the wall, shuddering from the force.  As its owner rose like lightning, ripping it from the cracking white plywood, another black clad arm snaked around the Tracker's neck.  Kaiba felt fury rising in his blood, rushing in his ears.

"Unh!"  Yuugi jerked his head to the side and threw up his fist, punching his assailant in his masked face.  In the split second during which the vamp was forced to loosen his grip, Yuugi twisted out from under his arms and elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt.  Another well placed kick had the vamp snarling and on his knees.  The large vampire's gloved hand flew out to snatch at the elusive Tracker only to wrench back as flashing sliver swiped between him and his prey.  Kaiba jerked his long katana up to stop its downward slash and redirected it towards the violet cloaked hunter who dodged just in time.  He was distracted, however, as he heard a familiar voice cry out.  A flash of fangs, a glint of glazed-over emerald eyes, and the thing was attached to Yuugi's throat.

"No!" Kaiba dove at the pair but unearthly strong hands caught his hair and threw him back into a wall.  As he saw stars, but all he could think was [_Not again; not while I'm here; not to **him.]  He rolled just in time to avoid a fist that cracked the very wall.  Leaping to his feet, he thrust his sword forward with preternatural grace, silently impaling the masked vampire.  He whipped his head around to spot the boy he was to protect prying the slender raven haired night stalker off his neck, grunting from the effort of holding the snapping fangs at bay.  Green eyes flashing, the long haired male kneed his target in the stomach and shoved him against the wall.  One of his long legs shoved its way between Yuugi's and pressed the small teen tightly, pinning him.  Flat to the wall, Yuugi had no leverage with which to work.  A white hand clamped around his throat with iron strength, strangling him.**_

A bullet ripped through the raven haired boy's temples.  Bakura smirked.  

Kaiba froze mid-stride, staring at the equally stiff vampire.  The vampire coughed, a wisp of smoke escaping his lips.  Kaiba lifted his katana to strike the final blow.  But as his blade swung forward, he sliced only air, the vampire fleeing in a rustle of bluish-purple cape.  Kaiba whipped around, but the room was empty save Bakura and Yuugi, the latter dropping to his knees and coughing, a hand on his pale column of throat. 

"He bit you--" Kaiba cut himself off uncertainly.  On the ground, Yuugi shook his head.

"He got a mouthful of leather," he rasped, clamoring to one knee.  Bakura grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet.

"I don't know how they got in, but we need to get the hell out of here," he ordered, rushing into the hallway, towing Yuugi along.  Kaiba snatched up his white cloak and brought up the rear, ears pricked and temper flared.

[Why didn't I hear them?!]  He growled, tightening his grip on his weapon, alert to any sudden flickerings of shadow.  A breath of air quivered behind him and he whirled, his sword catching with a spark against an equally strong blade.  Forward, charge, fake left swing upwards, deflected, roll back the blade and--_contact.  The vampiress hissed, a streak of crimson blossoming on her deathly pale cheek.  Kaiba smirked maliciously._

Kaiba attacked again with renewed vigor, a completely human bloodlust over taking him.  Adrienne met him blow for blow, round blue eyes narrowed in concentration.  Just when he had all but beaten her back, a sweet voice distracted him for the second time that night.

"Kai--!"  He ran down the corridor as the red haired vampire pressed herself into the shadows, intent on heading them off.  The slayer skidded around the corner that separated him from the others to find Bakura struggling against a broad, looming figure.  The slayer had a dagger point pricking his gritted lips as the vampire with hieroglyphics carved on half his face attempted to shove the knife, tip to hilt, down his throat.  

Yugi was currently dangling from the arms of the masked vampire, his eyes huge and pained, clawing at the strong forearm clamped over his mouth and nose securing him.  His eyes caught Kaiba-kun's and he saw a rage there, smoldering in its intensity, deadly in its intent.  As the slayer moved forward, a flash of crimson locks and black steel blocked his path.

And suddenly, Yuugi could hear the blood pounding in his ears, the pulse racing through the rope-like veins running just beneath the surface of the white arm suffocating him.  His own pulse was thready, fluttering too hard and too weakly, its supply already lacking.  He felt desperate.  All he could see were those flaming, sultry blue eyes, trained on **him** even as he dueled with the sword wielding vampiress.  But a hot fetid breath washed over the elvin shell of his ear. 

"Stop struggling, _Yugi_, you're about to black out anyway....We will take you back into the shadows, where you belong..." the masked vampire named Archane whispered, pained gasps punctuating the slow snicker that followed his words.  It took more than a sword's puncture to kill an immortal, but it hurt none the less.  And it was more than just this physical pain the masked one would be avenging in his rough treatment of the little human.  They thought they could smile at you, offer you a kind word, **breathe in your presence**, without arousing that fatal love all creatures of the night felt for them.  She thought she _belonged to Malik, that she could never be his, well this one was Malik's, too, and this one was going to feel his pain and no one would be able to say it was anything but accidental and this one going to suffer.  Archane tightened his cruel grasp around the tiny human's slender waist and pressed his arm over the boy's face harder.  _

Yuugi's chest heaved, trying to force some air into his oxygen-starved lungs even as his captor was steadily squeezing the life out of his middle.  His head swam, violet orbs rolling back in their sockets.  Blackness was encroaching, swallowing him, just like the vampire had promised.

[NO! --no!......no....... Master Shadi's slut or Nyctomortem's: it doesn't matter, but I....I can't just.....]  Yuugi couldn't think, his insides burned, and slowly, slowly, he felt his resistance slipping.  His hands, curled fiercely around the arm blocking his mouth weakened.  His chest was still heaving, but of its own accord; Yuugi wasn't struggling any longer.  The pain was all-encompassing.  Vaguely he registered that his arms had fallen limply to his sides.  It seemed it was with great difficulty and from across the room that he raised his unfocused eyes, their lids hardly able to lift enough for him to gaze one last time at the slayers who had almost saved him from the darkness he knew he would awake to forever more.  He thought perhaps he heard a cry, as though it had traveled slowly through water to reach him.

"_...Yugi!..._"  And he saw smoldering, rage filled orbs the color of sky the second after the sun had set, condemning him for giving up so easily.  Filled with the kind of fury and lust that made one shiver.

[....I.....can't....leave him--]

Short yet razor sharp fangs gnashed the smothering arm over Yuugi's face.

Behind their mask, black eyes went wide with surprise, then narrowed with acute pain.  Archane struggled to resist the urge to release his prey.  He curled long, supernaturally strong fingers into the multicolor haired boy's ribs.  Yuugi gnawed and ripped as hard as he could muster.  

"Nani?!"  

Finally, he flung the small teen from him with a cry, the short fangs ripping a long, jagged strip in his white flesh through his sleeve.  Archane disappeared into the shadows as several rounds were fired off into the air where he'd stood.  Yuugi hit the wall of the corridor, collapsed with a thud and drew in a pained scream of a breath.  He began spitting disgustedly, head spinning.  Several seconds passed before he regained his composure enough to take in his surroundings once more.

Bakura lay beside him, wrestling with a powerful vampire, his head thrashing to the side to keep the night stalker's dagger out of his eyes.  The tanned slayer was strong, muscles lean and hard, but the power of an undead hunter is immense.  The tip of the blade caught his cheek, and the white haired slayer growled dangerously.  In a burst of strength he'd thought had left him, Yuugi tackled the huge vampire on top of Bakura-san.  He might as well have tapped him on the back of the shoulder and asked him to leave, please.  Yuugi pounded with his small fists on the back of the bald vampire's head, straddling his back.

"Leave--him--alone!!" Yuugi shouted as the deadly calm vampire sliced a thin, controlled line down Bakura's face.  "I know you're all after me, so just come and get me!"  He leapt off the large stalker and tore down the corridor, running blindly.  The great stalker paused, glancing in the direction Yuugi had fled.  He then leapt to his feet, throwing Bakura from him and disappeared down the hallway in pursuit.  Bakura's body was flung into a doorframe and he crumpled, unconscious.

Adrienne whipped around at his words in time to see a vision of vivid red streak around the corner.  Her attention halved by the violent slayer bearing down on her with his lengthy katana, she abandoned her defensive stance that **had served to give Archane time to escape with the child.  Lunging forward, blue eyes nearly luminescent with anger, she swung her blade up to draw his and then raked her steely nails across his exposed chest.  One large, pale hand, inexplicably powerful for a human, caught hers.  **

He loomed over her, his own blue eyes filled with a hatred common to Cruentuses, their bodies locked together in battle.  For a moment, they were frozen, staring each other down, the intensity of their glares enough to frighten any sane being.  Then she went for the throat. 

Kaiba dropped to the floor, letting his sword clatter and her hand go as his forearms crossed, simultaneously rising to shield his neck.  But it had been a ruse.  The second he had released her white hand, she had disappeared, flying after the Tracker.  Cursing, Kaiba sprung from his crouch and made to follow.  He stopped dead in his tracks, whirling, when he heard a whisper of vampiric movement.  Nothing could be seen in the shadows, but Kaiba didn't need to see to know.

[The wounded one will take Bakura if I leave him.  The other three will take Yuugi if I don't.]  

Kaiba ran down the end of the hallway, white cloak fanning out behind him; he could _smell_ that all too familiar vampire stench of their unnatural blood and sweat and sickening lust as they stalked their prey.  He adjusted the heavy weight of his partner over his shoulder, grunting at the effort of running with the lanky white haired boy.  The exit sensors were firing wildly up ahead in the foyer; Yuugi must have run outside.  [Damn it, if he is outside, there's no where for him to hide!  They will catch him in a matter of minutes.]  It was too much to hope the teen had his ret gun with him.  Kaiba knew; Yuugi was completely defenseless.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Yuugi ran as fast as his legs could take him, as hard as his abused lungs would let him.  He had no idea where he was headed, but hopefully if he stayed to main corridors he wouldn't end up running into a dead end.  A light flashed over head, its UV content causing him to stumble and feel nauseous.  The vampires had cut the power somehow, but the building's defenses at least seemed to be independently generated.  The light driving back the demons at his heels, he burst through the door ahead of him, intent on putting as much distance as possible between himself and those hunters.  His wide eyes were abruptly dazzled by a rush of cool wind and moonlight and he found himself standing outside, surrounded by a never ending expanse of desolate field.  No where to run, no where to hide.

"_Yuuuugi_......." a demonic voice drawled beside him.  Yuugi jumped and ran along the side of the barn façade wall, away from that terrible voice.  

"_Yuugi!_" it whispered excitedly, seemingly from the shadows in front of the Tracker.  "_YU-ugi!"_

"!"  Soft, slender arms lighted around his slim waist, drawing him into the shadows behind him.  "No!" Yuugi cried, flailing out at the body enveloping him.  Its arms turned him roughly and drew him to its chest in a vice like grip and Yuugi found himself staring up into pale, iridescent lavender orbs.  His breath caught in his throat.  A cold, high laugh bubbled from the vampire's cruel, sensual lips.  His perfectly arched blonde brow raised in dry amusement.

"Whose blood stains your _innocent_ lips, little Yuugi?"  The leader of the Rare Hunters lowered his face so it hovered millimeters above his prey's.  His tongue slipped out and ran a slimy, firm stroke over Yuugi's tightly pressed together lips.  Lavender eyes flamed with interest.  "You drew the blood of a vampire?  With your human teeth?"  Another insane chuckle escaped his throat.  "Impressive."

A gust of icy wind swirled around the pair, the light of the stars fading as if each heavenly candle above had been snuffed.  The vampire Malik tensed almost imperceptibly, but pressed as he was in his arms, Yuugi felt it.  Goosebumps rose over his flesh and a chill shook his diminutive frame, but at the same time, a dizzying wave of hope swelled in his chest.  [Is it possible--?!]

"Let him go."  

So quiet he almost missed it--but commanding and utterly fearless.  It seemed as if the deep, erotic voice echoed in his mind rather than the air, but he knew by the look on the exotic vampire's face he had heard it, too.  Malik hissed, drawing Yuugi to one side and a blunt katana with his free hand.  A psychotic grin spread over his visage, even as his eyes darted in the darkness, searching for the owner of that dominant voice.

"Come and make me."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Kaiba ran out the exit he knew Yuugi must have, seeing as how the defenses had all been tripped.  No vampires were in sight, and Kaiba swallowed, panting from his exertions.  [_Please.....don't let them be gone with him.]  _

As he flew outside, he fleetingly saw a vehicle in the distance he knew must belong to the Rare Hunters, the rumored, highly exclusive clan of deadly vampires for hire.  It resembled a 1930s Ford hearse, only three times as large and no doubt heavily armored in all its sleek, gleaming beauty.  It couldn't hold his attention, however, as he beheld the spectacle a few yards ahead.  A swirling, electric cloud of black fog was being restlessly circled by the four vampires Kaiba had encountered in the safehouse and a fifth he remembered from Yuugi's apartment whom he had thought dead.  It was the same strange fog he'd found Yuugi in last night.  The same Darkness that had drawn from Yuugi's wrist.  Ice blue eyes narrowed with hate.

Slinging Bakura off his shoulder, he grabbed the limp platinum haired teen's wrist and wrenched it towards him, fiddling with the button concealed under his cuff, nervousness clenching his stomach.  Finally, the damn thing went off, Bakura's slim body alight with a grid of golden threads.  Kaiba scooped him up once more and ran towards the concentrated darkness.  The distracted leeches turned too late.  Bakura's body was glowing with a greater intensity by the moment, a sound like a camera flash building.

"Fall back, now!  Malik can hold his own!" the woman's voice ordered.  The five scattered, wisely taking flight from the UV charge building.  As the Rare Hunters disappeared, a legion of bats swelled from the unnatural miasma and followed them.  The brunette clenched his eyes shut.  Bakura's suit went off in his arms in a near explosion of sunlight that burned through the black fog and radiated a quarter mile into the night.  

When Kaiba could safely open his eyes again, blinking to try and rid his vision of the spots, all he saw left was a great mass of black leather cloak crumpled on the earth.  Dropping a groggily awakening crypt raider on his ass, Kaiba ripped back the rumpled cloak.  Beneath it, he revealed two small unconscious forms curled into each others arms, the cloak attached to the slightly larger one.  To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

Kaiba jerked the delicate little Tracker form the Dark fiend's embrace, startled by the vampire's appearance.  Frankly, he looked like Yuugi.  But definitely a more seductive, powerful, and evil looking version: his small, handsome frame bound in tight black and maroon leather, his apparel a salmagundi of straps and laces that clung to his shapely body like a wet dream.  For a moment, all the blue eyed boy could do was remain crouched on one knee, immobile, and stare, supporting the limp Tracker with one arm.  Yuugi moaned, stirring.  Kaiba drew his sword and raised it.  Yuugi's eyes flew open and he threw himself on top of the undead creature.  Kaiba only just managed to stop his blade, its deathly sharp edge quivering a hair's breadth over Yuugi's tensed body.

"Damn it, Yuugi, move!"

"No!"  His violet eyes flickered to the creature's face, a strange glow illuminating them for an instant before it was gone.  But Kaiba had seen.

"He's a vampire," Kaiba seethed, raising his katana.  "As soon as he wakes, he's going to try and kill us and drink your blood.  _Move._"  [Vampires must die.  _Especially vampires whom he looks at with that expression in his eyes.]_

"He saved my life!  Please, Kaiba-kun, I can't just let you--eep!" he squeaked as the body beneath him shifted, a low, arousing "hmm..." escaping the Darkness's pale lips.  Kaiba grabbed Yuugi and threw his weight backwards so fast they tumbled several yards out of harms way in an instant.  Kaiba's head shot up from his position of being sprawled on top of Yuugi in a cloud of dust, the small teen's fist curled instinctively in his shirt and eyes clenched against the dirt.  Kaiba peered up apprehensively from under long chestnut bangs, body tensed to move at the slightest intuition. 

But the vampire was gone.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

The Darkness sped along the highway, displeased.  True, he had gotten to hold his chosen one again, but his head was spinning from that god forsaken sunblast and his prize eluded him still.  He set his jaw, urging his motorbike to accelerate even faster.  He wanted to get home.  Well, to the hotel room that currently served as such, at least.  He had to plan.

It would have been too easy to dispatch of those annoying slayers and abduct the young human right then and there, but one thing had stayed his hand.

["_Kaiba-kun_."]  The slender vampire narrowed his large, angular eyes.  [He cares for that murderer....This is going to be more difficult than I anticipated.  Hikari-chan, you are everything I have been searching for.  I'm in love with you as only darkness can be.  But...]  

For the kill to be pure, the love had to be returned.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"Well.  That didn't exactly go as planned," Adrienne commented, earning a death glare from Rare Hunters' leader.  "Can you count yet, Otogi-kun?"  Adrienne was bandaging the entry and exit wounds on his temples.  His emerald eyes rolled back in concentration as he attempted.

"Wh-one....tyoo...fft."

"That's enough.  Don't worry, the brain damage will be healed by tomorrow."  She put up the bandage roll and scissors.  "Archane, do you need to be seen to?" she added haughtily, not looking in his direction.  In her opinion, he had failed miserably to subdue the Tracker when he had the opportunity.  He was cradling his right forearm and leaking dark fluid from his midsection.  He scowled at her back.

"I can see to myself, thank you."

"Hmm, yes, you've demonstrated that beautifully."

"I--!"

"Enough," Malik spoke for the first time since he'd materialized from his horde of bats.  All the others' eyes went to him, save Rishid, who was driving.  Malik drummed slender fingers on one knee.  "Darkness wants the little Tracker.  I had not foreseen this.  I conclude now that this Darkness must have been the original threat--not a pair of pitiful Slayers..."  He lifted his bright eyes from the dancing shadows, locking them onto

Pegasus's man, Kimo.  "You must have known this.  Your failure to disclose such information will cost you your life in the future.  It has already cost us our prey, and two nights.  We are not prepared to fight another vampire, only slayers.  Therefore we must return to our base and load more weaponry.  You will be punished accordingly."

"Malik-sama!  Please--Lord Pegasus didn't tell me any information!  I swear to you, oh great--"  Malik rolled his eyes, raising a slender hand to stem the oncoming groveling.

"Yeah.  Right.  Just be grateful I still have uses for you--your death won't be tonight."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"How the **fuck did this happen?!?!" Kaiba hissed to Bakura, as they gathered the remnants of their equipment from the battered chambers of Safehouse 1045.  The tall teen was extremely pissed off.  **

"I was watching the monitors; there wasn't a sign of them 'til they were already _inside_ the freakin' building," came the low reply.  Bakura and Kaiba were both quiet then.  They knew what that meant.  Nyctomortem's safehouses weren't invulnerable; a determined vamp seemed to be able to slip into any crevice, no matter how tight security was.  But every safehouse was equipped with an advanced radar system that could detect and systematically monitor everything from a housefly buzzing a mile away to the changes in the temperature of air within a radial sphere twice the faculty's size.  The Slayers within a safehouse might not be able to stop a night stalker's advance, but they would see him coming a mile away and be well prepared for his arrival.  All of which meant only one thing: it had been an inside job.  Someone at Nyctomortem had manually interfered with 1045's sensory equipment.

Yuugi was waiting patiently, if not somewhat nervously, as the Slayers reloaded various arsenal and punched in twelve security codes on a pad beneath a grey panel.  

Kaiba stalked forward, swirling cloak mimicking the current state of his thoughts.  He passed by Yuugi without so much as a word, and the diminutive boy hung his head miserably.  He figured Kaiba was mad at him for saving the Darkness.

Bakura watched the dismissive behavior of his partner, and the resulting affliction on the Tracker's countenance.  [Huhn.  Interesting.]

"C'mon, Yuugi," he directed the small one, who dutifully trailed at his heels down the hallway.  They passed the point where Yuugi had almost been captured, the blood of both Bakura and the vampires smeared across the once white walls, and he shuddered, quickening his pace to be closer to the white haired boy.

"Is your head alright?" Yuugi asked timidly, noticing the brownish stain of dried blood matting a section of the teen's shimmering platinum locks.

"Don't worry about me, kid.  I'll be fine."  Silence hung thick between the three as they burst through the enormous doors into the hanger, where their van was parked.  "When you made that leech lay off me and chase you--" Bakura paused, not looking at Yuugi.  "It was stupid and you jeopardized our mission's entire point: getting you safe and sound to Nyctomortem headquarters."  Yuugi gazed down at his boots as he walked.  So they were **both mad at him.  "--But thanks.  That guy was about to cut my head off."**

Yuugi blinked.  The uber-cool, way tough, vampire shooting, bad-ass Slayer was thanking _him_??  [Whoa.]  The tri-colored haired boy smiled shyly, not daring to say anything in return.  He clamored into the back of the Vamp Van, Bakura following, as Kaiba slid into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind himself.

Bakura began removing his kimono as Kaiba squealed out of the garage and onto the dusty road, leaving the breached and therefore now sealed facility behind them.  Yuugi blushed and averted his eyes as black vinyl peeled away to reveal brown, glistening, sculpted torso.  Bakura grinned slyly, noticing the pink cheeks of one easily embarrassed Tracker.  Stretching overtly, showing off his expanse of lean, muscular chest and stomach, he queried, tongue in cheek, "Squirt--had me those macro lens light-seeking casers, would ya?"  Yuugi glanced at him, swallowing, before quickly dropping his eyes and fumbling with the various gadgets near him on bolted in shelving.

"Uh--nani?"  

Bakura continued grinning evilly.  He leaned over the slender teen, practically crawling into his lap, bare skin brushing against the other as he reached for a strange looking contraption beside the flustered boy.

"These goggles," he offered in way of explanation, slowly slinking back to his previous seat.  The van lurched suddenly, rocking violently.  "'K--ow!"  Bakura was sprawled out on his face, ass in the air.  "Watch it, Kaiba!" he scowled.

"Whoops," he deadpanned, sounding anything but sorry.  Blue eyes glared murderously at Bakura in the rear view mirror.  The white haired fiend's scowl curled in a smirk, wink accompanying it.  Yuugi, oblivious to their exchange and clinging onto one shelf's metal beam for balance, was staring at the macro light-casers, or whatever Bakura had called them.

"What is that thing?" he ventured, curiosity overriding his fear that Bakura-san would get naked in front of him.  The white haired boy looked up through the mess of spiky locks obstructing his face.  "Oh--you're bleeding..." Yuugi trailed off.  He hadn't even seen the blood yet, but he could smell it.  He turned his face away.  He didn't want to see it....didn't want to risk tempting himself.  Bakura sat up, brow creased thoughtfully.  His hand slid under his mop of hair to touch his cheek.

"Aa.  I reopened the nice little cuts that bald Egyptian brute gave me."  He wiped at the scratches, one long vertical one, intersected by two shorter horizontal ones, and shrugged.  "It's nothing."  [But it's something that you noticed before I'd even lifted my face.]  He gazed down at the elaborate goggles in his hand.  "Oh yeah, this thing."  He strapped the gadget onto his head and grinned at Yuugi, earning a laugh from the younger boy.  The goggles magnified Bakura's green eyes to ridiculous proportions, making him resemble some sort of tree frog.  He picked up his discarded kimono and draped it over his lap.  

"What are you doing?" Yuugi asked, peeking at the amiable Slayer over his knees that he rested his chin on.  Bakura pulled his white locks back into a messy ponytail to keep them out of his way and clicked a dial on the contraption that turned on a concentrated beam of light.  Yuugi watched with interest as the other boy began painstakingly extracting string after string of burnt out bulbs from the folds of black vinyl with tweezer-like tools.

"Since dear Kaiba managed to blow out my entire Apollogrid system, this kimono's now useless for anything but getting me free drinks."  Yuugi made a face.  He had had enough experience with drinks to last him a lifetime.  

Meanwhile, Kaiba was clenching the steering wheel so that his knuckles were white, stewing.  He growled, swerving around some rubble spewed across three of the five lanes of interstate.  The jarring caused Bakura to jab himself with his tools.  
  


"Fuuuuc..." he mumbled under his breath, shaking his hand in pain.  He looked up, glaring at the back of the brunette's head.  "OWW," he enunciated loudly.  "Watch the insane driving, wouldja?  I'm _trying to fix what you broke.  What on earth possessed you to set off the full charge, for-dire-emergencies-only, far range blast anyway?  (There was only four or five of them, you....)"  Bakura hadn't really been expecting an answer, so when the silence was broken moments later, he looked up, startled._

"It was a Darkness."  Magnified lens got shoved up as Bakura turned to stare at Yuugi, looking for confirmation.

"...You're joking," he said, knowing Kaiba didn't joke.  "When the fuck were you planning on telling me?!?!  Holy shit, _a Darkness__??  They're supposed to be legends--myths--whoa, whoa, hold on!  Is the Darkness, lemme guess here, _after Yuugi_?"_

Kaiba stared indifferently at the road, his childish resentment of Bakura's "befriending" of Yuugi gone, overshadowed by a much more substantial hatred for the beautiful little vampire.

"Apparently so."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  Next chapter, the gang finally gets to Nyctomortem headquarters!  Have you been wondering if more characters are going to pop up?  Cause they are!

Yugi:  ::pets Xpyne on the head::  Isn't she cute?  ::gives her a cookie::

Xpyne:  Ooh!  A cookie!  ::munches::  Ruvoo pweeah!

Yugi:  ...I think that meant review, please.  ^.^;


	6. Chapter 6

Xpyne:  Oooh, ooh, guess what guess what!?!?!??!?

Seto: ........What? 

Xpyne:  Firemoth has its own website now!!  With fan art pictures by me, and an unedited archive of the fic.  If you're thinking, "I'm confused....It's not edited, is it?"  Weell, it wasn't until chapter six here.  Not much.  ::sigh:: just enough to keep it rated R rather than NC-17, ya know?  I wouldn't want to get me and Soli-chan kicked off FF.net for the sixth, yes sixth, time.  **This is the edited version.**

Seto:  ::in monotone::  Please.  Go to her website.  Look at her art and tell her what you think here in a review or there in her guestbook.

Make sure you take out the spaces when you copy and paste it.

Xpyne:  ;; Sound excited, why don't you??  I'm excited.  Anyway, more confusing Latin titles to be explained at a later date.  And hey, a new character actually explains something in this chapter instead of leaving you all even more confused as usual!  

Seto:  Solitaire helped a bit this chapter.

Xpyne: Ah, yes, yes, which is why her bitch Seto is helping me with Authoress Notes instead of my bitch Yuugi, heehee.  She wrote three whole paragraphs of it when I got stuck....(well I wasn't really stuck, more like taking a little break.  Soli has really had me under the whip the past few days. ::in annoying, imitating Soli voice::  "are you working on vampy? Work on vampy.  Why aren't you working on vampy?!?!" -__-;;)

Seto:  Xpyne owns this weird plot and some of the stupid jargon.  She doesn't own me or Yu-Gi-Oh!, and sure as hell isn't making any money off this crap, so don't sue.

Firemoth

Chapter 6

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"You're back already?" was what he wanted to say.  

But in actuality, he said nothing.  He just watched, large brown eyes glittering in the shadows as his master strode around, issuing orders in an authoritative voice.  "Go do this," "Go get that," "**Now, dumbass": things of that sort.  It was a long while before his master seemed to notice him.   It was nearly dawn, only an hour or so left, and the others in the mansion had already retired for the night.  As the last servant disappeared, slipping unobtrusively out the immense gilded doors, latch sliding into place from the inside, Ryou was alone with his master.**

The lanky Egyptian night stalker sighed in a long-suffering manner, crossing the room and collapsing onto scarlet silk and tangerine chiffon.  He lay there limply for several minutes, eyes closed.  Finally, Ryou crept from his warm little enclave of pillows and blankets, long black chains clinking in the otherwise silent chamber.  A pair of metal bands encircled each of Ryou's slender limbs, and attached to each platinum upper armlet or thigh band was a fifty foot long chain welded to one of four walls.  He had freedom of movement and little else.  Other than the chains, he wore a white silken cloth draped over his loins and rear, intricate rubidium embroidery trimming the material, with three strands of silver connecting the front and back of the sparse skirt.

He crawled over the mounds of soft bedding until he was perched beside his master, studying him intently.  This life, this vampire, was all he'd ever known.  He supposed he must have had a mother, and a father, at some point in his life, but he just couldn't remember.  If he thought hard enough and long enough, sometimes....there was a girl, just a baby, toddling around.  She had white hair and blue eyes and chubby pink skin.

Sister, maybe.

But that didn't matter, really.  His only family was Malik.  Malik, his caretaker.  Malik: his father, teacher, companion, and master.  Malik who never aged and who never tired of him.  Hesitantly, he stretched out one long hand and brushed back the blonde hairs covering his lover's eyes.  ['Are you alright?'  Why can't I just ask?  He's not going to hurt me.  He never hurts me on purpose.]  As if sensing some fear or apprehension, the leader of the Rare Hunters opened his lavender eyes.

"Mmm...Pet?"

Ryou remained silent, as usual.  He shifted, his waist long silvery hair spilling over one bare shoulder.  Malik gathered up a great handful of the shimmering locks to his face and inhaled deeply.

"You smell exquisite," he complimented, pulling the slender teen on top of him.  He kissed Ryou's jaw, and the bandage covering his throat.  "I'm glad to see you're better.  Have you eaten?  You're still too pale."  Ryou smiled mysteriously.  It was nice to know he was cared about.  "I'm leaving again tomorrow.  You want anything before I go?"  

Ryou shook his head.  Then he leaned down and pressed his lips to his master's.  It had been at least two whole nights since he had played with his master, and despite the wounds on his neck, he was in the mood.  Malik grinned.

"Oh, I think you want _something_," he insinuated, rolling on top of his favorite pet in a rustle of chains and silk.  Ryou gasped, throwing his arms over his head in a submissive gesture.  

~*~**~*~*~~*~ whoops, censorship-ness ~*~~*~*~**~*~

As their bodies untied, Ryou thrust his tongue into his master's mouth, raking it over razor sharp fangs.  The blood poured burning like blissful acid into Malik's lips, enflaming his vampiric senses.  He came with a groan, sucking on the bloodied tongue as he emptied himself into his veep.  The hypnotic, aphrodisiac venom rushed freely from Malik's stimulated fangs, enrapturing Ryou, who released against his lover.  

Malik rolled off his veep, sated.  "....."  He reached over and pulled his slightly paralyzed sex partner into his embrace.  Until his vampire's venom wore off, the white haired boy would be very groggy and have difficulty moving.  But it was almost dawn.  Pressing a kiss to the drowsy boy's forehead, Malik rose, tossing off the loops of chain that had found their way around him.  He retired to his secure underchamber, a small room containing a cast iron coffin that locked from the inside.  He lay down in the soft lilac satin lining and pulled the latch fast.  Often Ryou would sleep in here with him, but not today.  Malik trusted his servants would clean his veep and make him comfortable in his absence.  Tomorrow night, he hunted Darkness.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Kaiba squinted against the breaking dawn.  He had been driving all night.  Yuugi was buckled into a seat bolted in the back staring forward silently, as he had been for the past hour or two, ever since Bakura, the Social One, had fallen asleep curled up on his kimono.  All he could think about was the Darkness.  

"Come and make me."

At that, a mocking laugh echoed around them, it origin undeterminable.  The blonde vampire narrowed his pale, luminescent eyes, grip tightening on his katana.  

"_I surround you.  Your eyes are blind to all but what I let you see.  Would one so weak dare challenge Darkness itself?_"  

"Hunh.  Your parlor tricks do not impress me, anymore than cold hurts or absence of light offends.  Show yourself, that I may skewer you on my sword and be done with your childish games."

Glowing red eyes materialized in front them, followed by a white fanged smirk and an appallingly handsome face.  It was, of course, the beautiful vampire Yuugi had met once before.

"Would you see me?  Would you like a name to go along with your humiliation?" he smiled charmingly.  "I am Yami.  Remember it."  He paused, his blood colored eyes narrowing, fixing on Yuugi.  "Release the child and I spare you tonight."

"This child belongs to me.  Lust after another mortal whore," Malik suggested flippantly.  The small vampire frowned.  

"Malik, Rare Hunter, servant of the Ancient Shadi --" Malik's face hardened in anger at being referred to as an underling. "--you overestimate your say in the matter."  In a movement too fast for Yuugi to register, he found himself yanked from Malik's grasp, the Hunter thrown in the dirt.  Malik lunged at them, and Yuugi shrieked, burying his face in the welcoming arms that stretched out to protect him.  Malik's twin swords were bared and slicing through the air in a silvery blur, attacking ferociously, but they couldn't touch him, so fast was the dark one to lift his own slender blade and deflect each blow.  Yuugi was paralyzed with fear, clutching the cold, lean body of the dark vampire.  He could see no possible escape.  But then the sound had built in his ears, the high pitched whine, louder and louder. 

Malik burst out laughing.  "Looks like you leave the child or you fry.  See you Hell, _Yami."  And then he dissolved into a cloud of vampire bats, scratching and biting as the swarm scattered, disappearing beyond the black fog's borders.  To Yuugi's surprise, Yami threw his cloak over himself and Yuugi, and clutched the diminutive teen tightly.  "Hold on, little light," the Darkness whispered._

And then it seemed the burning sun consumed them, and Yuugi, his dunpeal blood too sensitive, blacked out.

Yuugi sighed.  At least now he knew his name.  [_Yami...]  Yuugi shook his head wearily, the scene replaying for the hundredth time in his mind.  Dawn's light washed over him suddenly and the glanced up, startled.  Finally, the night was over.  He had survived another.  Relaxing for the first time since the last evening had fallen, he allowed sleep to claim his taxed body and hoped no dreams would torment his exhausted mind._

Kaiba announced aloud, "I'm stopping at a diner a mile up the road."  Glancing in the rear view mirror, the brunette observed that his two companions were fast asleep.  Speaking of sleep, Kaiba was rather too tired himself.  He needed a nap.  Pulling off the super highway, he parked down a deserted alley.  He turned the van's armor on, closing out the morning's faint pink light and securing the vehicle.  Leaning his seat back, he closed his bleary eyes and slipped into a deep slumber.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

When his sapphirine eyes opened hours later, he was surprised to feel the van was moving.  He half sat up, disoriented for a moment or two until he realized he had been moved to the back, his cloak spread over him like a blanket.  Kaiba pushed himself into a full sitting position against the wall of the van, his muscles aching, and pulled his cloak up to his chin.  His eyes shifted to stare at the back of Bakura's head.

"What do you think _you're_ doing?" he stated.  "Move over.  I'll take the wheel."  The ivory haired slayer didn't answer and a slight frown of annoyance creased Kaiba's brow.  "I said--"

"I heard what you said; I'm ignoring you, you ass."  Bakura glanced back at him in the rearview mirror, and the brunette didn't have to be able to see his mouth to know he was smirking at him.  "I'm not your wet nurse, so I don't know exactly how long it's been, but knowing you, I'm guessing you haven't slept more than five hours in the last thirty, and I for one would appreciate _not_ not waking up plastered to the asphalt."  A muscle in Kaiba's jaw twitched.  "So sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride.  Hell, shock us all by going back to sleep, or even eating something back there."  Out of the corner of his eye, Kaiba noticed a small pile of shrink-wrapped sandwiches and a case of plastic water bottles.

After a suitable period of resentful silence, the blue-eyed teen snatched up a water bottle and rifled through the sandwiches until he found one he thought he could stomach.  Pulling away the plastic wrap, Kaiba took as large a bite as he could force himself to.  While he chewed slowly and deliberately, his eyes strayed to the little Tracker seated across from him and still deeply asleep.

"Has he eaten?"

"Yeah.  Kid scarfed his food, took a leak, and was back asleep within five minutes."

"Good," was all the brunette muttered, then grimaced as he forced down another bite of his tuna sandwich. (AN/ Barf!  Tuna is sick.)

"...He seemed pretty worried about you," the crypt raider added slyly after a few moments.  "He was afraid you were unconscious or something, until I explained that you'd pretty much crashed and would sleep like the dead for another hour or so at least.  I had to get this show on the road again, so I let him dress your wound, heh."  Kaiba's hand reflexively went to his chest, and he could feel the gauze and medical tape through the shreds in the fabric of his suit.  "I hope you don't _mind?"_

"Just what the hell are you insinuating!" Kaiba growled, fighting back a blush.

"Heheheh--oh shit," Bakura swerved to avoid rear ending a slower moving rice rocket.  Once he had control of their tank again, he returned his attention to his pretending-not-to-be-distraught partner.  "Heh heh.  Nothing: it was just a more economical use of our precious daylight hours.  Heheehheh--I hope he did a good job--" more snickers "--he sure took long enough." Bakura was fit to burst now.  "--Guess-guess he was in no hurry to put your shirt back on!  Ahahahehehaha!!"  Bakura had lost it now, cackling madly at his own mean jokes, tears streaming down his cheeks.  Kaiba's cheeks were aflame.

"Watch the road, you moron!"  Bakura was grinding against the concrete barrier now, sparks flying and a painful grating noise vibrating through the Vamp Van's frame.  The white haired slayer jerked the wheel to side, righting their course once more.  "I'd rather not not-live-out-the-rest-of-my-days in an Afdlamne District prison for traffic violation!  Get out of my seat.  **I'm driving."  **

All the yelling and reckless driving had awakened one bleary eyed Tracker.  He sat up, yawning and rubbing his half-lidded violet orbs.  "What's going on, guys?"

"Nothing," Kaiba stately coldly, daring Bakura to object.  "Go back to sleep."  Yuugi stared at the brunette broken heartedly.

"Oh--Okay."  Yuugi leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes, prepared to try and fall back asleep as quickly as possible.  Kaiba dragged his glare from the back of Bakura's head and glanced at Yuugi uncertainly.

"You don't--you don't _have_ to go back to sleep."

One large, amethyst eye peeked open slowly.  When it saw it was being stared at, it quickly shut again.  "It's okay.  I'm tired," Yuugi assured Kaiba unconvincingly.  Kaiba swallowed, scowling at the snickering driver briefly before trying again.  

".....When you aren't so tired anymore, I'd like to talk to you," the blue eyed boy offered.  Several minutes passed in silence (well, silence discounting Bakura's occasional snigger).  Then Yuugi cracked his eyes again, sneaking a look at one lanky brunette from underneath thick black lashes.  He sat up again, warily regarding the teen across from him.

"What happened in the dark realm?"  Bakura's snickers subsided and he sighed.  Oh, here was a romantic topic.

Yuugi swallowed.  

"I--I don't remember much--"

"You said that--_vampire_--saved your life," Kaiba prompted, eyes glinting.

Yuugi blinked, not liking the proverbial corner he had been backed into.  "There was a blonde vampire with dark skin--I think he was a--Arabian, or something from the Old Middle East--and he was Malik, I think, and he grabbed me."

"Mah-leek," Kaiba repeated.  Yuugi nodded.

"Then--then everything went dark and cold, like before.  The Darkness, the ancient vampire, appeared.  He took me from Malik and fought him off without hardly even trying!  They had swords.  And then there was this noise..."  [The sun-flash building.  This is the second time sunlight has hurt me in their presence.  If they realize...I'm dead.]  "..and the Darkness told me to hold on.  Malik did that bat thing, and swarmed over me, and I blacked out.  When I woke up, you had me."  Silence fell when he had finished.

Finally, Kaiba spoke.  "Kura.  Get that bonkotsu from Intelligence on the 'Rare Hunters' and 'Malik.'"  Bakura twisted around in his seat and riffled through a compartment for a transmitter.  "And for God's sake, watch the road!!"

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Around midday, Bakura stopped for a bathroom break at one of the painfully ugly truck stops, the smell of piss and hick permeating the entire establishment.

"Wake up already!" Bakura shook Yuugi violently, irritated.  The teen's head lolled back and he snored.  "I'm not stopping again," he threatened.  "So you'd better get up now."  

"Hurry up already," Kaiba ordered loftily, sliding into the driver's seat.  Bakura turned on him. 

"I'm trying!  This damn kid is dead!"  Yuugi smacked his lips together sleepily and curled up against Bakura.  "Argh, that's it," he fumed.  He hoisted Yuugi into his arms and climbed out the back of the van.  He put Yuugi on his feet and gripped his shoulders firmly.  "Let's go."  As he half dragged, half shoved the petite boy towards the impoverished convenient store, he swore he could hear the blue eyed boy laughing at him.

Once they were standing outside the single bathroom, Bakura fumbling with the key he'd gotten from the manager, Yuugi seemed to wake up.

"Wh-where are we?"  

"Bathroom.  Have fun."  Bakura had managed to open the door and shoved Yuugi inside.  A minute later, he heard the water running.  Several minutes later, the water was still running.  Bakura knocked on the door.  "Hey, you alright in there?"  No response.  "Yuugi?"  Bakura opened the door and entered.  He spotted Yuugi immediately, slumped over the dirty sink with the faucet on.  [Oh, fuck.]  Bakura rushed to his side.  "I don't believe it," he stated aloud.  Yuugi had fallen asleep washing his hands.

Bakura hustled a disorientated Tracker back into the van a few minutes later.

"Is he alright?" Kaiba queried, noticing the Tracker had the kind of sickly flush one acquires after being out in the sun too long over his cheeks and nose.

"Ah-hmm, I'm fine..." Yuugi trailed off, curling up in his seat and promptly falling asleep.  Kaiba roared back onto the freeway. 

"He's worse than you," Bakura accused, slumping back.  His green eyes darted to his partner's soft, voluminous white cloak.  It'd make the perfect pillow.

"Don't even think about it."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

A black Viper convertible tore down the battered superhighway, racing towards an unusual destination.  Actually, the destination itself was not so unusual, rather, it was unusual that the woman controlling the ebony sports car should be headed towards this destination, of all places.  For how many twenty-two year-old ex-convicts sought out Nyctomortem headquarters?

The buxom woman veered off an exit ramp and shifted gears, pursing her full red lips together.  She didn't like what was going on, what her associates were planning.  They called it a venture to "empower human-vamp relations and promote permanent peace."  She called it a pretentious attempt at genocide.  But, for the moment anyway, the lady's hands were tied.  She used be disgusted by Nyctomortem, and their over-dressed self-righteous morals; now she was one of them.  Sometimes you had to sell your soul to avoid the Devil, even it was just an extension, really, instead of the promised pardon from her execution sentence.

Her tires screamed down the long, circuitous driveway, a red flash whipping over her left flank as she sped through the decorative arc guarding the entrance of the compound, the only sign anyone had noticed her imminent arrival.  The flash, of course, had been a laser scanner that read the invisible ultraviolet-responsive barcode painted two foot long, half a foot high on her Viper's door.  The Castle Nyctomortem appeared around a bend at last, its spiraling steel towers and gargoyle-guarded turrets a testament to the modern day architectural obsession with the gothic.  

The modern day human, at least the artistic one, was obsessed with the utterly taboo fashion of vampirism.  To dress like a death eater was edgy; to have encountered one (without being tainted by it, _of course), was enviable; and to live in a glass and steel castle that would have proved too good for Dracula was quintessential Nyctomortem.  Nyctomortem could get away with imitating that which it hated for the simple reason it was, and always had been, an organization of fantastical proportion.  The pathetically boring average human __worshipped the slayer, and all he stood for.  The murder, the pain, the suffering and isolation--day walkers grasped the concept that the life of a slayer was unique, but they didn't really understand.  Slayers were cool.  They were beyond emotion.  Slayers kill vampires, and vampires are bad.  It was too uncomfortable a question to ask, "Are slayers therefore good?"  The blonde careening down Nyctomortem's front lawn had been slaying night stalkers for almost six years, and she considered herself _anything_ but a "good girl."_

The woman squealed to a stop in front of the looming castle, throwing back her door and sliding seductively out of her car, slinging a pack over her shoulder.  She tossed the keys to a waiting attendant, smirking at his obvious intimidation, bordering on fear.  She paused as she passed him, leaning slightly in his direction even as her beautiful eyes were trained forward.

"Hey," she whispered, and he stiffened.  "Don't muss the interior."  She tossed her long blonde locks over her shoulder and strode up the walk way to the great double doors, engraved like the gates of Hell.  They opened as she approached, golden light pouring out into the night and silhouetting the form that stood within the doorway.

 "Miss Valentine.  Welcome back." 

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"Oh man, is Kaiba gonna have his panties in a knot when he gets here.  I'm talkin' one seriously pissed off Cruentus.  This is not good."

"Aww, well don't worry, hon; I won't let him lop your cute head off."  The blonde woman winked, dropping into a comfortable black armchair with a sigh, violet eyes sliding shut.

"Gee, thanks."  The teen picked up her bag and hefted it over his shoulder.  "Geez, whadda you got in here, rocks?"  

The woman smiled, eyes still shut.  "A Maks shotgun, two Falcon side arms, a PK-102 assault rifle and of course, my diamond plated Harpie's Claw: everything a girl needs for a good time."

"Heh heh, but where d'ya keep your spare underwear?"

"Jounouchi, you pervert, how about I show you where I keep my spare left hook?" she threatened, glaring at him.  He grinned.

"What ever makes you happy."  She smiled, despite herself.

"It's been too long, Katsu-kun."  He made a face.

"Not long enough for you to get away with that sickening pet name, _Mai-chan_.  C'mon.  I wanna hear what Isis had to say to you.  Are you sticking around for a while this time?"  He extended his free hand, the one not holding her bag, to help her up.  She eyed it from her very comfortable position of being slouched across smooth black leather.  Sighing, she allowed her self to be helped up and led the way out of the spacious outer room of the Genetrix, Ishizu Isis's office, and toward the elevators.

"So is this why you were waiting for me outside Ishizu-sama's office?  For gossip and protection?  (How did you piss off Kaiba this time, anyway?)," she demanded shrewdly.

"Ouch!  You wound me.  Believe it or not, I _missed you.  (And I can take Kaiba on by myself any day, Cruentus or not)," Jounouchi replied, entering the elevator and waiting as his companion pressed the floor number._

"_Right_.  Well, who am I to disappoint?  I'm here on assignment, obviously. As part of the field team for Firemoth--"

"You're working on Firemoth??" Jounouchi cried.  Mai Valentine shot him a quizzical look.

"Yes.  You got a problem with that?"  Jounouchi glowered.

"What if I do?" he asked darkly, planting one arm on the elevator wall beside Mai's head, boxing her in.  Surprise, an emotion Miss Valentine rarely experienced anymore flickered over her countenance, before her suave demeanor returned.

"Hmph.  Well then I'd say too bad for you," she responded arrogantly, slipping her arms around his neck and bringing her face centimeters from his, licking her dark painted lips.  Her violet eyes bore into his uncharacteristically serious honey colored ones.  The elevator doors opened with a chime.  Suddenly Jounouchi seemed to snap out of it.

He pulled back, chuckling nervously, and one hand reached up to scratch the back of his head.

"Ah, Mai, I just worry about you, is all.  It's so dangerous, what you do."  He followed her out of the elevator and down the hallway.

"We can't all have cushy desk jobs, like you," she replied airily.

"Nani?!  _Excuse me, but as Nyctomortem's premier Vox-class Intelligence agent, I--"_

"Jounouchi, hon, learn when someone's pulling your chain," she smirked.  "This is exactly why you and Kaiba-senpai can't play together.  He commands, and you bark."

"Wh--whaa-fft!!" he sputtered.  The woman ignored him as she stopped at the end of the hall, glancing at the number on her custom key: a small black crucifix, engraved with a minute silver "VP" and a paper tag reading "2803."  She slid it into the lock of room 2803, turning it with a click.  "You gotta lot of nerve, lady, you really--!" he carried on.

"Would you like to come in, Jounouchi-kun?" she asked casually, as if he wasn't ranting at her, taking her weapons carrier from him.

"AND I--oh, sure."  He stormed into her room and paused, his fury replaced suddenly by a little look of confusion.  His brows knit and his mouth worked silently for a second.  "What was I saying?"  

Mai laughed.  "_I was saying, I'm here on project Firemoth.  DiMaggio will be here soon as well." _

"Oh, _that_ guy," Jounouchi acknowledged loftily, plopping onto a velvet upholstered divan.

"Jounouchi, how many times must I tell you there's nothing between DiMaggio and me?"

"Yeah, uh-huh.  Well, you tell everybody there's nothing going on between you an' me, too, so..." Mai sat down beside him, her body just brushing against his.

"In case you haven't noticed, there _isn't anything going on between us, is there?" _

Jounouchi glanced slyly at her from the corner of his darkly lashed eyes.

"Is that social commentary or a proposition?"  He wet his lips innocently.

"Social commentary," she deadpanned.  Jounouchi sighed, stretching.

"Aa, well, continue.  May I know what _you and_ _Di Maggio will be doing in Japan--your PG-13 activities only, please--before Nycto ships you off once more to Emerika?"  (AN/ Yeah, America sold herself out to the computer companies and clothing labels long before the year 4112.  u__u )_

Mai rolled her eyes.  "You know, I'm pretty sure old DiMaggio likes his toast buttered on the other side, if you get my drift.  (And I wouldn't exactly call slaying PG-13.)"

"I heard he likes his toast both ways, if you get **my drift."**

"Do you nose around in **everyone's** business?"

"That's my job," he defended cheekily.  "Part of Intelligence's duties are to make periodical background checks on Nycto's members.  Psychological make ups, behavioral profiles, etc." 

"Kiddo, I don't wanna know what you got on me.  (And really, bi, you say?  How reliable are your sources; he's my partner, after all.)  Anyway, we're here to take on the Rare Hunters, as soon as Kaiba and Bakura have secured the Tracker.  Which I'm sure your nosey ass already knew, seeing as how Intelligence is collaborating with DiMaggio on the lair rooting tactics.  What you _don't_ know is that Ishizu-sama just informed me a Darkness is tracking Kaiba-tachi, which means this is going to get complicated.  If we don't get location confirmation by tomorrow night, I'm heading out with a relief unit."  She sighed.  "We've got the Tracker.  Question is, can we keep him long enough to do our dirty business with him.  The blood's got to be fresh, right?"

"Yep.  Ethylenediaminetetraacetate ruins it.  (And, yes, bi as they get.  Of course my sources are reliable; I looked into it personally.)," he confirmed.

"Ethylenah-what?  Sorry, I need to brush up on my medical jargon.  (Personally, huh?  You really are a nosey pervert.)"

"EDTA?" Jounouchi prompted.

"Oh, right.  Blood preservative."  He nodded.  A contemplative silence settled between them.  After a few minutes, she picked up the thread of conversation again.  "What do you know about Darknesses?  Facts, Jounouchi.  I've heard the legends."  An unreadable expression crossed his face.

"....You want to kill it, I presume?" he asked.  She pressed her lips together, delicate brow furrowing.  

"Let's just say, I don't want it killing me.  You know how I feel about Ncytomortem... I'm good at what I do, but I'm not a fool.  No single Slayer is strong enough to take on a Darkness, if even half the myths are true.  I'm not even sure if I believe there is such a thing, or if it's a rumor vampires propagate to inflate their egos or humans spread to scare little children into being good.  Jounouchi-kun," her voice turned warm, cajoling.  "You know just about everything, though God only knows how.  Tell me what you know.  Tell me what I'm going up against."  Jounouchi regarded her appraisingly.

"This ain't in any one a' my files.  This isn't the kind of information I record for this institution, for reasons I think you'd understand--which is why I'm tellin' you."  She nodded, waiting for him to continue.  "A Darkness is an old an' powerful vampire.  Those two don't necessarily come together in night stalkers, but a Darkness--a Darkness is both.  When a vampire in really ancient--like two or three _millennia_, at least-- if he's been honing his powers over the years, using them, perfecting them insteada' just living offa his natural 'talents' of bloodsucking and stealth, he can evolve to the point where he just doesn't _need_ blood any more.  God, they want it, but the point is--they don't **have** to have it any more.

"This'll change a vampire, their psyche, ya know?  They...lose the excuse of necessity.  A Darkness has trouble justifying himself anymore.  Vampires, all vampires, have a different perspective than their human selves did on death.  They don't think it's **wrong to kill."  He was quiet for a moment.  "I 'spose that's why it'll never work--peace, dat is.  But a Darkness, he's been around, to get where he is.  He can change the atmosphere; make it cold, or dark, an' stuff.  And he appreciates things.  Which is why, once the physical dependence on blood is gone, he turns into a Purity Hunter, as I call 'em.  He spends all his time seeking the 'ideal human'.  Somebody who embodies our best qualities, whether he seeks someone strong, or courageous, or beautiful or brilliant or all a' the above depends on the vamp, but usually....they like 'em young and innocent.  But it's not enough, to bust in an' drink their chosen one to the last drop.  He's got time to kill, and power to spare.**

A Darkness wants total submission: body and mind.  The lengths he will go to to seduce a human.  Sometimes he'll watch one from birth; sometimes a human will just catch his attention.  But he makes them..._love him.  He won't strike until they trust him, want him, love him, and then, he kills them."  Jounouchi sat back, shrugging, as if it wasn't so incredible, just another tragedy of life._

Mai was entranced, horrorstruck.  The very idea, of devoting all the time and effort and passion of finding love, only to throw it away at the sweetest moment was repulsive.  The waste, oh the waste was disgusting.  The truth was worse than the legends, the myths of incredibly powerful, evil demons, always coincidentally plucking the most precious of beautiful children in a wake of black smog.  It was no mindless boogeyman; it was deliberate deception of the heart, the promise of eternal devotion repaid with treachery and death.

"Oh, that's sick," she said finally.  "Oh, that really takes the cake..."  She shuddered.  Jounouchi glanced at her. 

"No, don't you get it?" he contradicted softly.  Her violet eyes locked onto his, searchingly.  "They don't do to be cruel, but ta immortalize perfection.  When the human is, at their best--they're swallowed willingly by Darkness.  The vampire stops stealing innocent lives when he becomes a Darkness; he takes only what is given to 'im, and he only accepts the best, to make it that much better," he laughed, breaking the serious tension that had been building.  "Like sex, y'know, everything's better consensual," he joked.  Mai smiled weakly.  "Eh, I should get goin'...it's kinda late," he offered, but made no move to get up.  After a moment or two, Mai seemed to regain her composure.

"Oh, no rumors will defame my honor for our late night chats, Jounouchi-kun, seeing as how you start them all.  (If they do, I'll know you kiss-and-tell.)," she added, standing.  Jounouchi rose as well.

"Our business is our own.  (And who's getting kisses??)," he agreed regally.  She walked him to her door.  He hesitated in the hallway.  "Be careful, Mai.  I like you best in one piece, and yer right about one thing: no Slayer can take on a real Darkness."  Mai arched her brows challengingly. 

"Thanks for the concern, but rest assured I can take care of myself, desk job boy."  He stuck out his tongue at her.  She kissed his cheek and shoved him out of the doorway.  "Always a pleasure, Katsu-kun!" she called as she closed the door in his face. 

She leaned back against the door, listening to his footsteps receding.  She frowned, concern creasing her brow.

"Not that I ever doubt you, but where do you get your info, Jounouchi?  (You worry me.)," she asked aloud to no one in particular.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  Well, I guess I lied when I said Kaiba-tachi would get to Nyctomortem this chapter. Heh.  ::sweatdrop:: It's not my fault they're taking so long!!  Oh, anyway, here's a Japanese refresher for those who need it:

John-sama : Lord John, or I-really-respect-you-mister-high-class John

John-san : Mr. John

John-kun : John, my friend

John-chan : Little John, or cute baby Johnny

John-senpai : John, my comrade/co-worker of slightly higher rank, or John, whom I respect but not enough to butt kiss with a "-sama"

John-tachi : John and company, or John's group

Nani? : what?

Aa : yes, affirmative

Bonkotsu : mediocre person

Xpyne:  So, ah, I think that's it.  That website, one more time, is

ht tp: // www . geocities. com/ soliand xpyne/ firemoth fanart. html ? 1072249398010

Don't forget to take out the spaces when you copy and paste.  I made it with my crappy 56K dial up, so all you out there in computer land with equal or better machines should be able to visit it pretty quickly and easily.  ::crosses fingers::  heehee.  Thanks for reading and reviewing!  I'll try to update my site with pix and this story as soon as possible.  Ja ne!

Ja ne : goodbye, or see ya!


	7. Chapter 7

Xpyne:  Yay!  Another chapter done!  This fic has been totally annoying me lately .   But yeah, I managed to write some more on it anyway.

Yuugi:  Xpy-chan does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or much else, hee hee. 

Xpyne:  You find my poverty funny???

Yuugi:  ^^;;   Uh, no?

Xpyne: ::grumble grumble:: Short authoress' notes today because I'm grumpy and I have to do my calculus homework still.  Well, I hope all y'all readers enjoy this; it took me long enough, sheesh!

Firemoth

Chapter 7

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

"So," the tanned slayer began, settling comfortably against the nest he'd made with Kaiba's cloak.  "When are we getting dinner?"

Kaiba glanced back at them in the rear-view mirror, dragged out of the mental stupor cross-district driving produces in the most alert of minds by the question that rang oddly in the lulled silence.

"Dinner?  Didn't I already feed you today?"

Bakura yawned, stretching.  "Um, yeah, eight hours ago.  Pull up at Reteko's.  They serve Slayers.  Hashburrow exit."

"Fine."

Kaiba leaned heavily against the cool, grimy tiled wall, trying to control his breathing.

[What is _wrong_ with me?]  Kaiba ran his fingers through his hair, glancing through his messy bangs at the door, and then at the rest of the bathroom.  There were two other patrons, both at urinals.  Kaiba raised himself to his full impressive height and placed one hand conspicuously on the gun at his belt.

"I suggest you hurry the fuck up."

The two men fumbled with flies and straps, finishing as quickly as they could and filed out of the bathroom moments later, the door slamming and hitting the slower of the pair.  Kaiba turned the lock and growled, punching the cracked plaster and ceramic wall of Reteko Diner's restroom.  Pain shot through his knuckles, up his arm and vibrated in his elbow joint.  A slight flinch was the only indication of discomfort he gave as he flexed his now reddened and slightly swollen hand.

[I don't lose control.  No one makes me lose control.  I am in control.] he recited hollowly, staring blankly at the pale, insane-asylum green wall.   [He is a name in a file made flesh.  He is the end of the goal, not the beginning... I was supposed to find him--he wasn't supposed to exist!  Trackers have all been dead for almost four decades... I wasn't supposed to find anybody.]  Kaiba clenched his eyes in frustration.  The hunt, the hours of research, the obsession: it was supposed to be over.  Once again Kaiba Seto had done the impossible; this time he'd procured an extinct species for the fulfillment of his own dangerous scientific theory.  The thrill was gone; the prey was caught; the mission was as good as over... Kaiba groaned, unzipping his fly as he moved to stand in front of a urinal.  The obsession was supposed to be over.  Where was the usual satisfaction?  Arrogant complacency should have been stoking his ego right about now: another job, well done.

Kaiba wrapped his fist around his weeping cock.  [Who are you?]  He stroked himself harshly, abusing both his sex and his bruised hand.  In his mind he was being grasped by small pale hands, guided into wet pink lips.  [What are you doing to me?!]  He thrust faster, a low groan ripped from his throat by the vision.  [I don't care about you!]  He worked his length with the kind of force he usually reserved for vampires, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.  [I don't want to get to know you... I don't want to feel anything for anyone...especially not _you_...!]  His body quaked, knees threatening to give out.  Still he stroked himself, caught between pleasure and pain, self-hate and perverse desire.  It would be so **wrong**, to fuck the Project's key component.  So indecent, to shove his dick between those small, cock sucking lips.  Oh, how exciting it would be, to claim that little boy--to take what every prurient vampire slut in the tri-county area was coveting.  

When he had stared into those pained, violet eyes, the light going out of them as the life was strangled out of his body, jealous hatred had consumed him.  The idea that they were actually taking him, that he might never have his chance, had enraged the brunette.  He knew at that moment something was wrong with himself.  Because he knew he could never let this boy go.

He grunted, pumping his cock.  [You...slut magnet...you little....with your--and the --oh god--]  Kaiba felt his lust spiraling uncontrollably in his gut, the strong muscles of his thighs seizing up, the puckered skin around the scratches on his chest tearing under the stress of his heaving breath.  His free hand flew out to the wall for support and he gritted his teeth.  [You...]  His orgasm was building intolerably within him, the resentment and anger and confusion swelling inside him.  [_I want you_--]

"Yuugi!" he cried, stroking blindly for a few moments longer until he realized he'd come.  He gazed down at his wilting member with an expression of mild surprise as he gulped air, catching his breath.  Quickly he cleaned up and shoved it back in his bodysuit, crossing the room to wash his hands.

Staring at his reflection, he noted with disgust his clammy, aroused appearance.  Mopping at his face with a paper towel, he nearly had a heart attack when someone pounded on the door.

"Kaiba?  What the fuck are you doing?  Hurry up."

Kaiba froze guiltily.  He regained his aloof demeanor quickly, though, and opened the door, causing Bakura to freeze mid-pound, lest he hammer on his irritable partner's chest.

"Ah, there you are.  Our food's been ready for five minutes; geez, what were you doing?  Wanking it?"

Kaiba gave him an appropriately cold and disgusted look.

"Kidding, kidding," the white haired slayer apologized, leading the way to their small plastic table.  "I forgot; you're asexual and robotic."

"Shut up."

Bakura pulled down on the skin beneath his left eye with one finger and stuck out his tongue.  They sat down at the table where Yuugi was waiting, munching away on French fries, having already finished his burger.

"Hey," he greeted them brightly between bites.  "Do they have ketchup, you think?"  

Bakura scanned the adjoining tables until he spotted some and grabbed it, plunking it down in front of the diminutive teen.  

"Thanks."  The pair of slayers began to eat as well, a comfortable silence settling between them.  Yuugi finished before the other two and rose, heading for the bathroom.  He'd relieved himself and was washing his hands when something strange happened.

/Yuugi.../

Yuugi blinked, turning off the faucet.  Surely he was imagining things.

/...Yuugi./ 

Okay, something was calling his name in his head.  Time to go hide under Kaiba-san's cloak.

/...Please, Yuugi.../ 

But there was just something mesmerizing--hypnotic, even-- about it...  Yuugi took a step towards the high-set, barred window, moonlight spilling over him like diaphanous whispers.  His large, violet eyes were nearly luminescent in the pale glow, an eerie light seeming to emanate from their crystallized depths.

/...come here.../  

****

"What is taking him so long?  You two should start a fucking club.  If he fell asleep again..." Bakura trailed off threateningly.  He stalked off towards the bathroom for the second time this evening.  He returned a moment later pulling out his piece, a scowl etched on his handsome face.  "He gave us the slip."

"Nani?"  Kaiba nearly spit out the water his was drinking.  He quickly followed Bakura out the door, hastily throwing a few microcards as payment at a waitress and yanked his own semi-automatic pistol out of its holster.  His dark eyes adjusted quickly to the moonlit night outside and he wordlessly signaled to Bakura to go left while he went right to check around back.  The white haired teen nodded, slinking soundlessly off into the shadows.  Kaiba drifted like a wraith through the poorly lit alley bordering the diner, trained to roll his weight on his heels adeptly enough to avoid cracking scattered glass if need be, so his approach was utterly silent.

He heard voices.

"...puzzle, but what **do** you want?  Why are you following me?"

Kaiba couldn't make out the reply; he could only recognize that it was Yuugi, and he was not alone.  Yuugi laughed at whatever the demon voice murmured, the sound musical and ethereal and completely out of place.  The hairs rose on the back of his neck.  Kaiba crept closer, flexing his grip on his pistol.  He couldn't see worth shit.  His breath caught in his throat--he could just make out what the Tracker was saying; his voice had dropped to a low, conspiratorial timber.

"..can't go with you _now_, what would Kaiba-kun think?  Won't you wait awhile?"

Kaiba's jaw dropped.  [What the--?]

"Aa, but it's alright, hikari-chan.  Don't worry about Kaiba; _he knows my secret_."

"...Your secret?" came the innocent, curious response.

"That I love you, of course.  He won't mind."

"The fuck I won't," Kaiba growled, heaving a detonating solar cube into the blackness as he hurtled around the corner.  It was too risky to blast the fucker's head off, considering he didn't know precisely where Yuugi was.  There was a cry, presumably Yuugi's, and the sound of metal slicing metal.  The cube hissed and exploded prematurely, its full detonation prevented, sputtering and popping as it fell in two neat halves on the concrete.  It'd been cut in half in midair. But two pairs of large, shimmering eyes reflected the flare's brief, dying magnesium spark like cats in the dark.  The unnatural shadow lifted, revealing one disorientated teen seated on the ground clutching his head.  

Kaiba grabbed him by the arm and jerked him roughly to his feet, sweeping him to his side protectively, simultaneously cocking his gun.  Yuugi clung to the taller teen's waist, knees sagging.   The brunette backed out of the alley rapidly, weapon clutched stiffly, dragging Yuugi with him.  He jabbed his communicator.

" 'Kura, get to the van, now!"  Yuugi took a stumbling step backwards.

"Wha-what's going--ah!"  Kaiba grabbed Yuugi's hand and ran down the dirty boulevard.  Yuugi forced his legs to match the lanky boy's pace, clutching the hand clutching his.  As the long legged slayer skidded in front of the armor plated van, it roared to life, nearly running over the pair in a blaze of blinding high beams and squealing rubber.  It screeched to a sharp stop, hydraulics hissing as the back doors flew open.  Kaiba holstered hid weapon and shoved Yuugi first, leaping into the vehicle after him, mechanic hinges swinging shut behind him automatically.  The van groaned, tearing out of the parking lot on two wheels.

Kaiba righted himself, to find Yuugi clinging onto him, shoulders shaking.  Kaiba's large hands curled around the slender waist, gently attempting to pry the slighter figure off.  The boy wouldn't budge, however, holding on to the brunette with surprisingly rigid strength.

"Hey..." Kaiba murmured, unsure of what to do.  "Hey, it's okay now."  He hesitantly wrapped his arms around the diminutive male.  What was he doing?  Bakura caught his eye in the rear-view mirror, worry etched on his brow.  Kaiba gave him a small shake of his head to discourage any questions he was sure the tanned boy had.

Yuugi's face was buried into his shoulder.  He'd stopped trembling, but had yet to loosen his death grip on the other.  Kaiba nosed the teen's exotic hair out of the way to whisper in his ear.

"Did it....?"

The tri-color haired boy shook his head in the negative against his collar bone.  As Kaiba held him, trying not to enjoy the cool scent of the wild hair too much or the texture the Tracker's crinkled brow pressed intimately against the sensitive skin of his long neck, he suddenly noticed something very strange.  He leaned back, his blue orbs sliding into sharper focus, nearly cross-eyed, in an attempt to visually confirm what he thought he had felt against his temple.  Yuugi's ears were kind of pointy.  Like a vampire's.

Yuugi tensed, seeming to sense scrutiny of some kind.  He released the slayer's neck and scuttled out of his lap, pushing his hair from his face so it fell back into place: covering his ears.  "Gomen," he near whispered, a shy blush painting the bridge of his nose and cheeks.  His wide, violet eyes dared to peek up at Kaiba.  "I--I--I didn't mean to; it was like a voice in my head.  Telling me it was okay.  I'm so sorry."  Kaiba nodded.  He had experienced vampire persuasion before.  The most powerful of them could steal your free will and your very sense of self.  Yet another reason Kaiba loathed them.

"What did he want?"  At that, Yuugi flushed brightly, eyes dropping.

"Ah, well, the usual, I think," he answered in a small voice, acutely embarrassed.  Kaiba felt heat in his own cheeks as well.  What would Yuugi say to him if he ever asked him for 'the usual'?

"And he asked you to go somewhere with him?"

"Aa."

"Did he say where?  Anything specific?"

"No...he said he would wait for me, until I solved his puzzle."

"His puzzle?" Kaiba repeated incredulously.  [What the hell does that mean?]

Yuugi only nodded guiltily.  [Maybe I should show him.....no.  He would take it away from me.]  His thoughts strayed to the little treasure the Darkness had entrusted him with: a strange, angular bit of smooth, solid gold.  A piece of his puzzle.

"Kaiba..." Bakura began.

"Aa?"

"There's something on the roof."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Massive dark purple boots hit the ground as a tall, lanky man stepped out his unit's vehicle.  The folds of his matching kimono swirled around his long legs as he approached the seemingly abandoned warehouse.  The garment was slit up both sides for enhanced movement, revealing flashes of strong, darkly clad thighs and glistening, pale metal armor circling his knees and legs in a delicate pattern as he walked further from sight of the unit transfer car.  The same slender pattern encircled his arms and elbows, skirting up his limbs to be lost under the rustling fabric of smooth violet hugging his broad torso in a facsimile of the traditional Japanese samurai.  Plates of deceptively fragile looking armor shielded his bulky shoulders, transitioning seamlessly into his dully gleaming breastplate.  Under the moonless night he made an intimidating figure, pausing suddenly, brandishing a long, strange staff in front of himself with one large hand.  He lifted his other hand slowly to his throat, pale blue eyes narrowed.  He touched himself lightly.

"\ Return to your unit.  Repeat: all personnel return to your unit.\"

He touched the silver DP again and slowly, silently lowered his hand again.  He cocked his head to the side, a long curtain of soft violet bangs that weren't pulled back with the rest of his lengthy hair falling into his face.  He slid his thumb up and down along his staff, waiting.  A soft breeze caught his skin, brushing the locks from his face and twisting his skirt around one leg.  He inhaled lightly, breathing in the charged scent of the atmosphere.  Yes, they'd been here.  Closing his eyes, he tried to envision them.  Four--no five of them, possibly a sixth who had never left the hearse, the scent of human and inhuman mingled amongst them.  The slightly bitter taste of ozone wafting up from the dirt where a sunburst of immense scope had detonated.  It must have lit up the night.  The tall, slender male exhaled with a sigh.  They were expecting him.  But... he sensed something _here_.

He took a step forward.  West, they went west.  Not towards Nyctomortem.  Back home, to prepare for the Darkness, no doubt, he decided.  The silver emblem on his collar lighted again.  He ignored it, kneeling to examine the various footprints overlapping each other, shuffled in the earth, hardly discernible.  But the ones that left the skirmish were easy enough to tell.  The stumbling prints of a tall vampire.  You could tell it was a vampire because the prints were large and heavy, mainly up on the toes, but so shallow the only way they could have marked the earth in such a manner was if the owner of the prints had been running at super-human speed.  He leaned low, gripping his staff for balance, and sniffed the print delicately.  Iron.  This vampire came from the Kyoshomo shores to the west.  He walked often in the abandoned industrial wasteland of depleted beaches, where the iron silt washed ashore and blackened the sand.

He scraped a small sample of the wet black dust and in little plastic tube and placed it in his pocket.  He rose, touching his collar.

"Get a full team out here to canvas the area and trace the exiting tracks of a 4088 or 89 F'rd Tank Hearse model and put Intelligence on witnesses.  The closet city that might have seen our perps is Bekumn."

"\ Done.  But sir, superior Vox demand you rendez-vous with Valentine--\"

"Understood."  He shut off his communicator, walking towards his black automobile.  He clicked a ring up on his staff and twisted it--twice to the right, back left halfway, another full turn and--the staff retracted to a third its size and he tossed it into his car, following it a moment later.  He gunned the motor and pealed away, following the moving coordinates on his GPS.  He punched in his partner's code into his consol.  After a second's pause, he heard her voice, thin and metallic over the distance.

"\What?\"  Valentine Mai demanded.

"It's me, DiMaggio.  Have you made contact yet?"

Her laugh was full and self-assured even through the transmitter.

"\Oh yeah.  And boy, were our 'friends' happy to see me.  Meet me at Safehouse 1050, k?\"

"Alright."

"\Oh, and D-Mag?\"  He grimaced at her ridiculous nickname for him.

"Yes, Mai?"

"\Safehouse 1045 was compromised, so be on your guard.\"

"I will."  He smiled.  She acted like he was so fragile, just because he...well...had had a bit of a _reputation_ at the Nycto Academy.  He rolled his eyes.  He could take care of himself.  But it was nice to know she cared.

"\Hmph.  Over and out.\"

He whipped along the deserted highway.  If he hurried, he could make it to the safehouse within an hour or two, which was good.  He wanted to get to headquarters as soon as possible.  Having a Darkness around....jeopardized everything.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Kaiba tensed, un-holstering a HK-5 machine gun pistol, eyes trained on the ceiling of the van.  "Stats?" he asked.

"Urgh, it's generating electronic interference.  Heat scanners, motion detectors, and shape monitors all down.  It can't fool the weight sensor beams, though.  It's 122.4 pounds, distributed over roughly 12 square feet at four pressure points," Bakura answered.

"Electrocute it."

"Can't.  It's blocking the equipment with advanced destructive interference waves.  We're sitting ducks," he answered in disgust.

"Stay back," the brunette quietly ordered Yuugi, wrapping a hand around the release handle of the back door.  He waited, taking a deep breath.  Yuugi stared at him with eyes enormous.

He threw open the back door and swung up out of sight into the night.  A brief struggle ensued, the sound of bodies thudding against the roof making Yuugi flinch.  A moment later, Kaiba's head poked up-side-down into the open back end of the van.

"Pull over," he demanded sourly.  A woman's laugh filtered through the rushing wind.  Bewildered, Bakura complied, noting a black sedan was following them off the road.  When he had eased to a stop, a black clad figure with flowing blonde hair leapt in front of the snub nosed van, followed by Kaiba.

"Valentine??" Bakura stated incredulously.  The pair was already climbing into the back.

".....Shouldn't you be traveling with _your_ unit?" Kaiba sneered, gesturing toward the sedan that had pulled over several yards away.

"Good to see you, too.  I suggest we get going--"

"I only parked so you could get off the damn roof," Bakura grumbled, revving the engine and pushing a button that slammed the hydraulic doors shut.  "What the hell were you doing up there?"

"Hitching a ride," she answered, rolling her eyes.  "Trying to make contact with you idiots, what else?  Why, might I ask, are the two of you ignoring all urgent requests at communication and blocking all manual transmission attempts?  Ishizu-sama was actually afraid you'd been captured, you know."

"Security has been breached.  Safehouse 1045 was sabotaged by an insider.  Couldn't risk further communication," Kaiba stated, narrowing his eyes in distaste.

"We know about 1045.  Jounouchi's on it."

"'Ku," Kaiba snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.  Mai frowned at him and glanced over at the diminutive boy in the corner.  She blinked.  Well wasn't he a cutie.

"Hi there.  I don't expect these manner-less boys to introduce us anytime soon, so I'm Valentine Mai, Perimo.  You must be Yuugi."

Yuugi nodded.  "Mutou Yuugi--um, Tracker, I guess."  Mai laughed again, causing Kaiba to scowl.  After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "What's a 'Permio'?"

"The classification for your general, Academy graduated vampire killer.  It's just Latin for 'Slayer'," she replied.  "They like to slap tags on everybody.  See?"  She pointed to a silver 'VP' attached to the black leather corset top she wore.  Yuugi felt his cheeks color as she inadvertently directed his attention to her large breasts.

"Right."  He looked to Kaiba.  [ I wonder what his is for.... KC.  Kaiba what? ]  "Wh--" paused, choosing his words.  "Where exactly are we going?" he decided on.

"Nyctomortem," Bakura answered as Mai replied differently.

"Safehouse 1050."

"Oh really?  Funny, cause I'm driving..." Bakura said sarcastically.  Yuugi's eyes followed the trio as they argued, remaining unobtrusively silent.

"Direct orders from Intelligence, crypt raider, so you better change destinations."

"We have had enough delays already.  We are not stopping at 1050," Kaiba interrupted.

"A second envoy and two security units are meeting us there.  It's for _his_ protection," she pointed at Yuugi.  "Or don't you think three encounters with the Darkness in two nights appropriate safety measures?  I'd like to know what the hell was going on when I showed up ten minutes ago at that diner."  She tossed her blonde locks behind her shoulder impatiently.

Kaiba fixed his intimidating "bad-ass" look on her.  The tension hung in the air, until a small flashing light interrupted their staring contest.  Mai blinked, glancing down at her communicator.  She pressed it daintily with one long nailed finger.

"What?" she demanded.

"\It's me, DiMaggio.  Have you made contact yet?\"

Mai lifted her eyes to survey the pair of glowering boys.

"Oh yeah.  And boy, were our 'friends' happy to see me," she grinned winningly at her fellow slayers.  "Meet me at Safehouse 1050, k?"  Bakura grumbled, making faces as he punched in the new coordinates into the van's GPS board.

"\Alright,\" her partner confirmed.  Kaiba made a face of disgust.  It was no secret he and DiMaggio had never exactly seen eye to eye on vampire slaying.

"(Tell that little pansy to watch out for scary vampires....)" the brunette muttered under his breath, earning a shove from Mai as she pushed by him to seat herself shot-gun.  She flopped into the chair, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair.

"Oh, and D-Mag?" 

"\Yes, Mai?\"

"Safehouse 1045 was compromised, so be on your guard," she warned, staring challengingly into ice blue eyes.

"\I will.\"

Kaiba snorted derisively and turned from her, pushing his long dark bangs out of his eyes.  "Your partner should be lair-rooting, not conferencing with his _superiors_ at safehouses."

"Hmph.  Over and out."  She pressed her communicator again to end the transmission.  "He's tracking the Rare Hunters as we speak, Kaiba-senpai, and you should know better than to underestimate him."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes as he stared off at the opposite wall, adrift in memory.  His tone was cold when he answered a moment later.  "No."  He looked away, his hair fluttering down shielding his dark, blue orbs.  "I know exactly what he is capable of."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne:  So how was that, eh?  Kaiba self-servin', the introduction of my beloved D-Mag, yay, and more Yami-kun!  Heh, I need to brainstorm.  This fic is running away from its game plan.  It needs to get to some pivotal plot points, damnit!  And Yuugi and Kaiba need to friggin' hook it up already!!  It's hard when they don't already know each other and have a back history to rely on.  x__x;;  Aa, well, I'll try to have the next chappie out a.s.a.p. 

Yuugi:  Please review and say what you think so far.  ::smile::  Oh, and don't forget to visit the Firemoth website for art to go along with the story!

Xpyne:  Thanks, Yu-chan. ::pets his spiky head::  Oooh, and does any out there know of some good Gravitation fan fix?  The only ones I've found so far have, uh, been lacking in quality, so I'd totally appreciate any good recommendations.  Thanks!!  Ja ne!


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